SwanseaCity

‘Motivation in life is everything’: Luke Williams on loading lorries, being stabbed and managing Swansea

02-Feb-2024 17:00:09 | The Guardian

Manager who has done all kinds of jobs after a harrowing attack is thriving after leaving school with no GCSEs

“Sometimes I would work 20 hours off the bat, get three or four hours’ kip, back to work,” says Luke Williams, the Swansea head coach, reflecting on the days when he would struggle to make ends meet, combining coaching kids in Hackney, east London, earning £1.50 a head, with loading lorries for British Home Stores on Highams Park industrial estate.

Odd jobs such as driving minibuses – from airport and nightclub runs to ferrying construction workers to the Olympic Park site in Stratford – paid the bills to fuel a burgeoning career. “Listen, nothing changes,” he says, smiling, glancing at the numbers on his Apple Watch after getting home from defeat at Leicester at 3am. “My sleep data from last night is three hours, 57 minutes.”