sport news 'I'm playing real-life football manager': Englishman Will Still opens up on ... trends now
In a side room at the training base of Stade de Reims, there is a seat reserved for the boss. A red leather racing chair. It is rather flash; near the headrest, a crown sits atop Reims’ club crest.
Not really Will Still’s flavour but last month these flatlands in France’s north east became his domain. Now his inbox is brimming with messages of reverence. His trips to the supermarket are interrupted by well-wishers.
Recently, people began making a fuss on the pitch too. ‘We beat Rennes 3-1, I shook the ref’s hand at the end of the game,’ Still begins. ‘He was like: “What you’re doing is unbelievable, mate”'
Lille manager Paulo Fonseca said similar. ‘You get a little tingle,’ Still admits. ‘I’d rather people just consider me normal.’ He pauses. ‘But I do realise that it can come across as completely stupid.
Englishman Will Still has opened up on his time so far in charge of Ligue 1 side Reims
Born in Belgium to English parents, the 30-year-old is the youngest manager in Europe's major leagues
’Totally bonkers. This 30-year-old Englishman - who grew up in Belgium, who learnt to love coaching through Football Manager, who became a head coach at 24 - is now the youngest manager in Europe's major leagues. ‘Ridiculous really,’ Still says.
During those long nights at the computer, Still cut his teeth alongside brother Ed - now 32, now a head coach himself in Belgium’s top flight. In December 2021, years after sparking the same dream, they sat in opposite dugouts.
Since Will took temporary charge of struggling Reims in October, Europe's youngest team are nine matches unbeaten. Still now has the job full time – at some expense, too.
Still (left) is still studying for his UEFA Pro Licence
While the 30-year-old studies for his UEFA Pro Licence - a job requirement in Ligue 1 - Reims pay a €25,000 fine every match. Is that taken from his wage? ‘Well, it’s been, sort of, negotiated,’ Still laughs.
‘The club said: we’re ready to invest in your career and your future.’ With terms and conditions. ‘Just as long as you keep winning games !’That could prove tricky. Reims visit Paris Saint-Germain later this month for another date with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Co.
'You reflect on it and think: “Why the hell am I doing this? How am I in the position to be coaching against these guys?”’ Still says. But he has already frustrated them once this season.
In October, with boss Oscar Garcia missing, Still took charge as Reims stopped PSG scoring for the only time this season. He replaced Garcia a few days after that 0-0 draw.
‘I think we irritated them to a boiling point,’ Still remembers. Their blueprint? ‘Press them, foul them, go and grab them by the scuff of the neck, basically,’ he explains.
‘Don’t let them play out, don’t give Mbappe the space he wants... as soon as there’s a little foul, just run at the referee and make it as loud as possible. Just annoy them as much as we could.
Still (left) took charge of the team on an interim basis in October before being handed the role full-time
Reims frustrated PSG earlier in the season and became the only team to stop them scoring this season
Still revealed Reims game-plan against PSG was to be skilled in the art of irritation
’Will that be the plan this time round, too? ‘Err, along those lines, yeah,’ Still smirks. These days, his philosophy relies on players being 'proactive’. The art of irritation, however, is something he mastered growing up in Belgium.
‘I was a holding midfielder... I wasn’t the quickest - I can run the 100m in about 10 days,’ he says. ‘(But) I’d never stop running… I think people absolutely hated playing against me because I was the biggest See You Next Tuesday.’
A towering talent of the dark arts. ‘I'd just walk on someone’s foot or, first ball, smash them in the back of neck or something. I’m not like that in day-to-day life.' Not at all. 'But once I got on the pitch I was the dirtiest bugger ever,’ he jokes. ‘My mum was always embarrassed to watch me.
Still will again man the dugout when Reims come up against PSG for the second time this season
Still admitted he practiced his managerial craft playing popular video game Football Manager
’Those skills might have been enough to play in Belgium’s lower leagues. Fortunately he was already prepared for a career change.‘ I was just like a normal kid playing Football Manager,’ Still begins.
No matter than his parents had banned video games. ‘I spent nights where you get to 10 o’clock in the evening, thinking: “Ok one more game.” And then you end up at 4 o’clock in the morning: “Oh, I’m still at it.” ‘But what I realise now, the crazy thing is it’s actually so realistic.’
Still, a West Ham fan through his father, would always begin the game in charge at Upton Park. Serious, real-life coaching began further north, at Preston's Myerscough College.
As part of his studies, Still would coach North End’s
