From Reims to St Mary’s 

©IMAGO

Southampton fans still reeling from their relegation from the Premier League were perhaps granted some much-needed good news this week, when fresh reports linked their club with a move for young manager Will Still. The 32-year-old tactician announced his departure from Ligue 1 side Lens at the start of the week, stating that he intended to return to England to spend more time with his wife Emma Saunders, who had encephalitis, a brain infection. According to the Guardian, Still will move straight into a new job, with Southampton “accelerating” plans to appoint him as their new head coach, once compensation can be agreed with Lens for his staff. 

Still has attracted plenty of interest from his native England since making the move into management at a top European league in 2022, when he made the step up from being Óscar García’s assistant to becoming Stade Reims’ first team manager. Although he had breifly coached in Belgium in interim posts, his full-time appointment in France made the Belgian-born coach the youngest manager in Europe’s top five leagues at the time and he’s been making waves in French football ever since. So what is the opinion of Still in Ligue 1 circles following three years in the French top-flight, first at Stade Reims and then at Lens? Let’s take a look. 

How well did he do in Ligue 1? 

Despite lacking the correct UEFA licences to technically do the job, Still truly hit the ground running at Stade Reims, going on a 17-match unbeaten run, which was not only the longest in the club’s history but also guided them from 15th in the French top-flight to eighth, before ultimately finishing in a respectable 11th position. Still then repeated the trick the following season, once again taking the club to 11th in the table, but departed the club before the end of the season. Despite rumours even then linking him to moves in England, Still instead opted to stay put in France and became the head coach of Lens, where he led the club to 8th place in Ligue 1. Although he improved on his points per game (1.44 at Stade Reims and 1.49 at Lens), the club’s eighth-place finish wasn’t deemed ideal following a second-place finish two years prior and seventh the season before Still joined. And ultimately the task of replacing Franck Haise, who had guided the club from Ligue 2 to the Champions League, proved to be too much for Still to overcome. 

Since he was appointed head coach of Stade Reims in October 2023, Still has amassed 135 points in Ligue 1 and averaged a respectable 1.45 points per game. His total points return ranks him fifth among all Ligue 1 managers in that time, but when we rank his average points per game among all head coaches that have coached at least 30 league games, he falls to 12th among his peers. So was Still little more than a flash in the pan at Stade Reims before struggling to match the hype or were there other factors at play that got in the way of his rise to prominence in French football?

How well regarded is Will Still in French football?

“I think he’s still well regarded in France, even if none of his three seasons led to a european qualification of his team,” noted Ronan Caroff, Transfermarkt’s Area Manager for France and Ligue 1 expert. “In a country so rough on younger managers and/or managers without a playing background, Will Still is a minor miracle that is well appreciated.” So why couldn’t Still guide Stade Reims or Lens to higher positions in the league table? As Caroff explains, there were a number of factors beyond his control that certainly impacted on Still’s ability to do the job. “Considering the hype around Still’s name, and the past season at Lens, there’s some disappointment, though it can’t be blamed all on Still,” notes Caroff. “Eighth with 52 points, five points away from the closest European qualification spot – that’s not what Lens hoped for. But nearly €100 million in player sales compared to just €24m in signings suggests Lens lost significant quality from their squad: Elye Wahi left in the summer, Kevin Danso, Brice Samba, Abdukodir Khusanov and Przemyslaw Frankowski were all sold in the January window and were replaced mainly by bargain signings with no one coming in for more than €5m. No manager can really achieve greatness with this much turnover in their squad.”

Wary Southampton fans may note the disruption in Lens’ squad during Still’s time at the club and note that the Saints often see a huge turnover of players in their own team each and every window, which may suggest that the young head coach will face similar obstacles on the English south coast next season. But despite the problems he faced in France, Still departs Ligue 1 with an impressive reputation and will undoubtedly hope to add to that now that he is seemingly set to begin a new chapter in his managerial career back in England.