Notts County: Luke Williams' rise from coaching young offenders to leading the Magpies' renaissance

Luke Williams will oversee his first Nottinghamshire derby on Saturday when Notts County host Mansfield Town

Notts County boss Luke Williams was loading lorries, driving minibuses and breaking up fights among young offenders when he first "fell into" coaching at West Ham two decades ago.

He didn't choose the circumstances that landed him on the path to management. And it would be a theme for much of his career.

More than half a lifetime before guiding the Magpies back to the English Football League - and quickly getting them to the top of League Two when they got there - he was sharing pitches in east London with future England stars in the area, including John Terry and friend Bobby Zamora.

But his playing career didn't go stratospheric like theirs - a knee injury that required five operations in four years after he was released by Norwich City as a teenager ended all hopes of that.

"I didn't make the cut, and then by the time I tried to regroup and gather myself to try make something of it at 19, I did an ACL [anterior cruciate ligament], meniscus and lateral collateral [ligament]," 42-year-old Williams told BBC Sport.

"Between the ages of 19 and 23 I had surgery five times to rebuild my knee, but by then you have missed too much and it's impossible.

"So then you are just lost in the world not knowing who you are any more.

"And then you start to try and make a life, so I worked in a warehouse, drove a minibus and some coaching.

"I fell into it. I was coaching, trying to make some money really, because coaching was more enjoyable than working in the warehouse or driving a bus."

'There were fights everywhere'

A start at Leyton Orient then led to a job coaching young offenders at West Ham.

It was at the Hammers that Williams learned the importance of hard work and commitment, two traits that would go on to define the Magpies side that dramatically restored themselves as the world's oldest football league club in May.

"At West Ham they put me with young offenders because they needed someone who would turn up to an estate, show up on time and show up the next week even though it was carnage and fights everywhere," Williams said.

"So I ended up picking up a lot of work because I was prepared to work and I needed to make some money. I was brought up like that - if you have a job, you turn up and try.

"That was the thing, just give everything. If you are stacking the lorry up, do it properly, if you are driving the minibus, drive it properly.

"I started coaching and fortunately I clocked up more hours coaching and then before you know it I was a coach."

It was then a "call out of the blue" from Brighton and interview with then Seagulls boss Gus Poyet that led to a job with their under-21 side.

He moved into first-team coaching as an assistant at Swindon in 2013, and it was the Wiltshire club that gave him his first break as a boss on a caretaker basis two years later.

Six wins in 10 league games landed him with a "surprise" five-year deal, but he lasted only one full season in charge before being sacked following their relegation to League Two in 2017.

A move back into under-21 coaching came at Bristol City, then assistant jobs at MK Dons and Swansea City followed before Williams became a somewhat obscure appointment by Notts County in the summer of 2022.

The beggar becomes a chooser

Under Williams, Notts broke numerous club and competition records on the way to finishing second in the National League to Wrexham, before eventually securing their place in League Two with a penalty shootout win against Chesterfield in a thrilling Wembley promotion final.

After a rough start to life back in League Two, having suffered a 5-1 opening-day defeat by Sutton, the Magpies soared to the top of the division.

It's a place they continue to hold as they welcome undefeated Mansfield Town in the first Nottinghamshire derby for four years on Saturday.

For Notts, it's the latest "big moment" in what has become a long list for an attention-grabbing side who are led by a man who has done well to avoid any attention being focused on him.

That has become increasingly difficult, however, for someone now regarded as one of English football's highest-rated emerging coaches - with Portsmouth and Reading among the clubs to be linked with Williams in the past 10 months.

When asked what it is like being "that guy" after a career of toil and little previous recognition, Williams said: "You have beggars and choosers.

"And my whole life up until I arrived at Notts, I was a beggar.

"Then I became a chooser. And the people here, they made me a chooser.

"I will give everything I've got while I'm here and hopefully it will keep me being a chooser for a long time to come."