Football's best up-and-coming manager: Will Still and his (pro) license for thrills

This is the fifth article in a six-part series profiling the most innovative up-and-coming managers in European football.

Part 1 on Thiago Motta is here, Part 2 on Kieran McKenna is here, Part 3 on Paolo Fonseca is here and Part 4 on García Pimienta is here.

Very few things in football can actually be summed up in 240 characters. But that's exactly what happened to Will his still last season.

You've probably seen a flood of social media posts containing the following words, roughly in this order:

Will Still led Reims to an 18-game unbeaten run in all competitions. At 30 years old, he is the youngest manager in Europe's top five leagues. Reims are paying fines of £22,000 each time because Still does not have a UEFA Pro License.

Is it newsworthy? absolutely. The youngest head coach in Europe's five major leagues has an impressive attitude of not giving up even when thrown into a deep position. The headlines he received as a football manager in his younger days were not quite what he deserved.

Still's meme-ization has painted him as a bit of a charlatan. Indeed, he is at the forefront of a new generation of young head coaches in England. Born in Belgium to British parents, he describes England as his home. However, what sets him apart is the fact that he entered the world of football through academia.

Still is a football coaching graduate from Myerscuff College in Lancashire and entered the game as a performance analyst without a professional playing career. His assistant coaching role took him through Lierse, the Belgian youth team, Beerschot, Reims, then Standard Liège and back to Reims.

He will continue to lead Beerschot in 2021 (Sebastien Smets / Photonews via Getty Images)

It's a rich and varied career that started professionally in Still's early 20s. The only thing holding him back is the law. His three successes as interim coach, all while in his 20s, are no coincidence. He continues to adapt under pressure and in different cultures and environments, which comes naturally to him.

The first time was in the 2017-18 season at Belgian second-division side Lierse, where he was appointed for the first time at the age of 24. The club fell to second place with one win in 11 games, and their defense was the worst in the league. Under Coach Still's back-to-basics approach, they won eight games, lost seven, and won six by one goal. Without a UEFA 'A' licence, he could not legally remain in charge for more than 60 days, but he nevertheless officially returned to an assistant role at the end of 2017, before joining Beershot after Liersse's bankruptcy. Joined the.

His interim stint at Beershot arrived in early 2021, at the end of three years there. He served as an assistant during the team's promotion to Belgium's top flight and took over after Hernan Lozada moved to MLS in January. Beerschot continued to make good progress, winning the “opening tournament'' (Belgium's top league has a South American-style two-division system, Apertura and Clausura).

In 15 games under Still, Balshot has scored more points (22) than conceded (20), but has lost more (seven) than won (six). But he steadied the ship. The club was only founded in his 2013 year, and this was his first top-flight season. Yet at the age of 28 he was the youngest First Division manager in the history of the Belgian league. Five of the team's seven losses were by one point. Still, Baleshot replaced Still, citing “second season syndrome” and the need for a more experienced head coach.

It gave him something to prove. He did not choose to return to Baleschot as an assistant, instead becoming Oscar García's assistant at Reims. Four months later, in October 2021, he still left the company. Logistically it was better for him to get a job at Standard Liege as he was getting his professional license in Belgium. Otherwise, he had to commute to Belgium twice a week. He still finished the season in Liege, but Reims head coach Oscar García wanted him back.

But Still's ability to work under adversity was soon put to the test again. Garcia's daughter was battling cancer, which kept her away from practice often. Reims had a poor start, with just one win and seven points from their opening nine games. As a result, Garcia was fired.

There were still clauses left in the contract. Reims can fire Garcia because it was the head coach who brought him back to Reims, not the club. He instead made a British interim boss. His first match? Reims played Paris Saint-Germain in early October and drew 0-0.

Background: PSG was in between Champions League games, so they rotated their squad. Kylian Mbappé started, but Neymar and Achraf Hakimi started on the bench. Lionel Messi did not participate. Sergio Ramos was sent off before half-time. In any case, Still's team became the first team to keep a clean sheet against PSG all season.

Still, he was conscious of mixing up Lance's out-of-possession approach. He was ready to give up the ball, but he wanted to press, because sitting would inevitably lead to conceding goals. PSG had just three shots on target, their lowest total in a match at that stage of the season.

Reims kept their defensive line high with a 5-3-2 midfield block, but faced PSG's 4-3-3 man-for-man in their own half. The focus is to feed the wide passes and trap them there.

In this example, centre-back Younis Abdelhamid follows PSG's No. 9 Pablo Sarabia into his third goal. PSG were then trapped in their own half for about a minute before Abdelhamid fouled Nordi Mukiele.

Reims drop to a compact 5-3-2 from the free kick. The two No. 9s mark PSG's axis, and the Reims wing-backs jump to press the full-backs. Meanwhile, the central midfielder man-marks PSG's number 8.

After the success against PSG, Still was officially appointed interim manager of the club for five games until the season is suspended for the 2022 World Cup. They achieved big wins at home against Nantes and Auxerre, which were ranked below Reims when Still took over as manager, with three wins and two draws. They got off to a strong start and did not concede a goal in the away game against Lorient. All this left Reims in 11th place during the World Cup, five points out of the relegation zone.

even deeper

Rebuilding Reims: The true story of Will Still and the Ligue 1 side

By February, his unbeaten run had grown to 17 games, the most by a head coach at the start of his Ligue 1 career. Still is the second manager since 2000 to go undefeated in his debut season in Europe's top five leagues, after Tito Vilanova (18 games for Barcelona in 2012-13).

Reims plays with an enthusiasm befitting a team from France's Champagne region. Their style has paid off in big away games, including two draws at the Parc des Princes, where they scored a last-minute equalizer while remaining unbeaten last season. They are the only team to beat Lille away this season and will also draw with Lille in 2022-23. Still also won 1-0 and 3-1 at Stade Louis II in Monaco.

(François Nassimbeni/AFP via Getty Images)

Lance is aggressive when he doesn't have the ball. They ranked fourth in League One last season in fouls and final third tackles, often applying man-to-man pressure. Lance also ranks fourth in blocked shots against opponents, showing that the team can defend in a variety of ways. Only Lens (15) surpassed his 14 clean sheets.

In attack, they can be direct, shoot early into wide areas and prefer crosses. He still refers to his No. 8 as an “aggressor” who rushes into the box. This season they are in the top four in Ligue 1 for successful take-ons that lead to crosses, switches and shots in open play. Similar to the 2022-23 season, they had the most offsides and were prepared to play behind in the transition to a channel-chasing No.9.

This season, Mohamed Dalami replaced Folarin Balogun, who is on loan from the 2022-23 season. Balogun scored 21 goals (including six penalties), the most by a Reims player in a Ligue 1 campaign this century.

“Will is great. I couldn't have asked for anything more when he came out here,” Balogun told BeIN Sports last season. “He took on that role (from head coach to assistant) so easily. It was like he had been doing it forever.”

This season, they haven't been as perfect, with six clean sheets and only midfield defense (the number of goals conceded increased from 0.89 last season to 1.3 this season).

Still, Lance still punches above his weight. He is ninth in the table with 38 points, behind Reims (6th) (42 points) and Lyon (10th) (34 points). If they complete the season successfully, they will embark on their second European tour of the century, which is unusual for a club with the 12th-highest budget in Ligue 1. Destiny is in their hands: Nice, Marseille, Rennes (all between 5th and 8th), Stade his Auguste his Delaune.

Reims' ClubElo chart, a projected estimate of team strength based on results, shows their upward trajectory under Coach Still.

Regardless of how this season goes, Still may not be around for much longer. He has been increasingly linked with his work in England's second tier. Still, as a West Ham fan, it would be an exciting curveball option if manager David Moyes were to leave.

“I want to go home. I've been abroad all my life and worked in environments different from mine,” he said. The Athletic In this season's interview. “I would have no problem working on a championship team,” he says, if they were open, honest and ambitious. Still's Reims squad is structurally sound, cross-heavy, physically prepared and has quality technicians who wouldn't look out of place in the EFL.

Neither does Still himself, with eight 30-something managers in the Championship and clubs taking chances on managers with unique career paths rather than 'celebrities' who have been in charge for decades. There was a growing tendency to give

He still speaks thoughtfully and clearly, which is not surprising considering he is fluent in English, French, and Flemish. And how important it will be for his career to find the right place. And people who understand the way I work because I'm a little different. I get a little weird sometimes. ”

even deeper

“Football was just what we did. The three of us against the world” – A night in Reims with the Still brothers

He considers himself to be someone who acts instinctively rather than analytically. The best example is when he turned down the role of assistant coach to Anderlecht's Vincent Kompany. He didn't think he was integrating and benefiting the club.

A transfer policy that is at odds with Still's ambitions could accelerate his departure from Reims. “Every six months to a year, we have to update the entire team and the team,” Still said. “And that's what happened again here in January. We sold our best players and are now looking for a new balance.”

That person is Azor Matsuiwa, who Still says, “gives Rennes overall balance in midfield.'' At this point, Reims were four points higher with seven points. Rennes currently sit in eighth place, one point ahead of Reims.

Over the past two seasons, they have made more money than they paid in transfer fees. According to Transfermarkt, since their return to Ligue 1 in the 2018-19 season, the team has earned €173.6m (about £149m), but spent just €137.8m (about £149m). 18 million pounds).

There is clearly mutual respect between Still and Reims, but he has perhaps always been too ambitious for their favor, as his previous move to Liège shows. Dew. A move to another major European league could make sense for both sides.

But still, there's no need to rush. Technically, this will be his first full season as a manager, but he has already managed over 80 games in a curious but fascinating career. If he coaches each of the next eight seasons, he will have played close to or slightly more than 400 games by the time he turns 40.

He says, “I've never made a proper career plan.'' So far, it seems to be working.

(Top photo: Jean Catuffe, via Getty Images)