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Will Still, who hit the headlines after leading Stade de Reims to a Ligue 1 record 17 game unbeaten run, says he would “love” to manage in the Premier League one day.
The 30-year-old was born and brought up by English parents in Belgium and made the decision as a teenager to move to the UK to study for a career in coaching.
He has been in charge of the French club since taking over from Oscar Garcia on October 13 2022 and only suffered his first league defeat on Sunday, when Marseille came from behind to win 2-1 at Stade Auguste-Delaune.
Still’s early success has, naturally, caught the eyes of many, so much so that he has been included in the betting odds for the Leeds and Southampton jobs in recent months.
“It just seems completely stupid to me that my name is being put up against names that have done so much more and have been so many more places than I have,” he said in an interview.
“I wouldn’t ever dare to compare myself to those people.”
“I’ve never really thought about it [managing in the Premier League] because I never expected to be in the position I am so early and so suddenly. It would feel like coming home, just because English culture is part of me, part of my roots, part of my family, part of who I am.”
“I think if you asked any kid what they would like to do, they’d say they’d love to be a Premier League footballer or manager and I’m no different. I’m not closing anything at any time.”
Awareness of Still’s coaching career has, undoubtedly, been amplified by the incredible unbeaten run and the fact that, until recently, Reims had to pay a £22,000 fine each time he took charge of a match.
This was due to the fact Still did not have a UEFA Pro Licence, but he is now studying on a course and, therefore, the fine no longer applies.
The fact he was a fan of the computer game Football Manager was taken out of context, too, and many took the opinion that Still was a gaming fanatic who had struck lucky, despite the fact he has been coaching for a decade or more.
He said: “With the Football Manager thing, for example, people think I’m some spotty geek behind my computer that’s just been dropped in at Stade de Reims and is doing an unbelievable job. But I’ve been doing it for 10 years and the experiences I’ve accumulated or tried to accumulate have helped me and are still helping me today.”
“People say ‘Oh, he’s got no coaching badges, no qualifications, he’s just played computer games!’ I went to university to study football coaching, I’ve got the highest level diploma you can get, for the moment, in football and I’m studying for the Pro Licence.”
“At the root of that hope is just a simple love of coaching.”
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