Notts County: Luke Williams - 'No late-night deadline day pizza stress for me'

Williams was previously Swindon boss and also worked at MK Dons and Swansea prior to joining Notts in June 2022

Notts County boss Luke Williams is confident that the League Two club are well prepared for their first August transfer deadline day in five years.

Notts have only had to endure one deadline day a season since relegation to the National League in 2019.

But, following Notts' promotion in May, Williams had all of his six new signings in by the end of July.

"This club is so well organised that it's not as stressful as it is at other clubs," he told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"I would imagine there's going to be a lot of clubs with pizzas being delivered at 11 o'clock, followed by furious conversations going on for another hour after that.

"It's a bit like when you had a project to do at school and you've done nothing on it. And you tell your parents on the last day of the school holidays that you've got a 5,000-word project to get done, and it's all got to be glued together. It seems a bit like that to me.

"It's the late nights. You have a five-minute window and you're signing that player. Then five minutes later and the player is signing somewhere else.

"Then you've agreed terms with the club but not with the player, and vice versa. Just when you think everything is done, somebody else finds out what the offer was, how long and how much and then they top it.

"It all just seems a bit crazy."

'All a bit strange'

Williams wonders why there even is an August deadline day, having grown used to having just one in the calendar - in late March - for the last four seasons in the National League, as used to be the case in the Football League too.

"It all seems a bit strange to me that the deadline day is not the day before the first league game," he said.

"I find that odd. I don't know all the reasons behind it. I'm sure there are plenty and I'm sure they are valid.

"Maybe my tune will change if we sign a player on deadline day."

Even then, with the way Notts are run, most of the late-night stress will not come his way.

"I'm always involved," he said. "But I don't have a huge role in the recruitment. That allows me to focus my time and energy on the players already in the building.

"And I certainly don't plan to be sat there in the office with a pizza at midnight."

Notts began the season with back-to-back defeats but have turned the corner with a Macaulay Langstaff-inspired run of seven points out of a possible nine, leaving them in ninth place in the early League Two table.

County have one more game to come - this Saturday's home date with Tranmere Rovers - before deadline day next Friday (1 September, 23:00 BST).

Luke Williams was talking to BBC Radio Nottingham's David Jackson