Stade de Reims: The dream career of Will Still, still undefeated in L1 and in love with Football Manager

30 years. He may hate being told about his age, it is obviously the first notion to put forward, simply because he is one of a kind: he is the youngest coach in the European Top 5. It is also an advantage in this Reims team, the youngest eleven in L1 on average. Connected to his group, with whom his offensive and direct language hits the mark, the former assistant to Oscar Garcia has not changed anything from his atypical method.

“I don’t think there’s a player against Will or who doesn’t like how he isexplained Alexis Flips at the beginning of the year. Everyone likes him, his way of leading the team. It shows that he is a good coach. It’s the brother, there is not this little coach wall with him. Before, it was the assistant, and you talk to him and you laugh more with the assistant than with the coach. He did not changed. But, if I’m not mistaken, he doesn’t like to be called a coach! So, it’s complicated to address it as you like“.

This esprit de corps was particularly visible against the ossified collective of Christophe Galtier on Sunday. After this draw snatched at the last second, the Reims coach debriefed the match on the lawn, in front of his players, in front of his supporters, as he usually likes to do. Coaches who want to annoy Paris at home through play, we have known them. Those who have really tried are much rarer. Words and deeds. “It’s good to take a point in Paris but if you don’t win against Lorient on Wednesday, it’s not much use“, he smiled at the microphone of Prime Video when discussing this talk, still focused on performance and the need for results.

So far he’s been fine. Oscar Garcia’s Stade de Reims was playful but not killer enough. When the leaders of Reims decided to separate from the Spaniard – with a certain lack of class – Reims were 15th and Still was only to take the interim until the World Cup. At the time, Stéphane Dumont (EA Guingamp) was the priority track. The Champagne leaders quickly changed their minds, even if it meant paying 25,000 euros per match played on the bench because he did not yet have the UEFA pro license, a key usually required to officiate on a bench of this level.

Challenging workouts

“I never thought Football Manager would have an influence on my career in real life but, thinking about it now, it’s obvious that ifhe admits. As a kid, I immersed myself in this game, it undoubtedly ignited the flame in me which continues to burn on the bench. Really, I was obsessed with this game when I was younger. We were playing it frantically with my brother on the family computer. […] There was nothing better. And, finally, I was there doing this in real life. I remember that when I was in Saint-Trond (his first official position in a pro club, as a video analyst – editor’s note), I was playing the title at the same time with them on Football Manager”.

Former number 10 who stopped at the gates of the professional world to train in England as a coach, keen on tactics, fan of Sir Alex Ferguson, he once hosted a show with his brother on RTBF. By his own admission, this allowed him to better convey his messages and make his ideas accessible. They are numerous and varied, as explained by all those who crossed his path, from Yannick Ferrera who launched him in Saint-Trond to Luka Elsner or Oscar Garcia. The content of the sessions in particular helps to stimulate a group that he also manages to reframe, like this sequence seen with our colleagues from Prime Video, with raw words but ultimately quite realistic as to the habit of his players to complain about the refereeing.

In short, as it stands, Will Still is living a daydream. His name already resonates beyond the French borders, in Belgium, of course, but in England too, which has become the kingdom of fashionable coaches. “I live it in a very normal wayhe laughed at a press conference on Tuesday. My phone has been on overload for the past few days as I have received calls and messages from all over the world, it was kind of crazy. […] My social networks were crazy. Whether it’s people from Senegal, Mali, England, the Premier League. But if we lose the next two games, I will be the worst so I am well aware of the reality of the football world. I just want to focus on the game.”

He does well. Above all, Still wants to continue to prove and live his fairy tale in his own way. Fan of West Ham, he admits to having had a real fascination for Slaven Bilic. “As a coach, you have to keep your personality: when we were younger, we went to see West Ham, our favorite club, he recalled in 2021. It was Slaven Bilic’s team, with Dimitri Payet in attack: Bilic is a fascinating guy, he’s tall and charismatic… but he’s also a madman. But a coach must also have a touch of madness“. Crazy, innovative and downright refreshing: Still is the curiosity of the year. As long as it lasts.