Bristol City under-23s manager Luke Williams has departed the club after two-and-a-half years working at Ashton Gate under the current management regime.

Williams joined the club in 2017 following his departure from Swindon Town in May of that year and he has played a pivotal part in helping to develop the club's youngsters such as Antoine Semenyo, Saikou Janneh, Jonny Smith and Shawn McCoulsky, with all having good loan periods away from the club or being promoted into the first team.

The 38-year-old was viewed as the successor to first-team manager Lee Johnson in the short term if the Robins boss was to ever depart the club, but he has now gone and linked up as number 2 at MK Dons.

Southend United, Leyton Orient and Stevenage Borough have all shown their interest in the young manager over the past few months, and the highly-rated coach was attracting the interest of other EFL clubs.

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Assistant under-23s coach Alex Ball will step up to take charge of the young Robins side, having been in the dugout for the 2-2 draw with Cardiff City under-23s on Monday afternoon.

The Verdict

Williams has earned the right to go away and develop his career elsewhere, with previous experience within a first-team environment.

EFL clubs have gone head-hunting Williams for a reason in the past but he has moved to MK Dons to be the number 2 behind recently-appointed manager Russell Martin.