Will Still

[Badger]

17 hours ago, Baird of the land said:

i know some people liked the way he talked but I thought it was very amateurish.

curious what his previous team actually thought were his strengths. 

 

No idea why that might be. His interviews tended to be a slow motion wreckage. 

11 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

 

Still talked a good game with a pragmatic style but the job was too much.

 

Did he ?

I couldn’t see the attraction in the appointment when he was first linked, and any interviews reinforced my view that it seemed completely disjointed. Seemed quite a leap in faith to think he’d get coherent ideas across. Tonda has been a breath of fresh air by comparison. 

Edited yesterday at 10:36 by Badger

[Toadhall Saint]

He was rubbish, we’ve moved on best result all round.

[Badger]

22 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

I think the job was too big for him (may well have been too big for Tonda too if he had come in the summer) 

 

16 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Agreed here. If Tonda was appointed in the summer there would have been a melt down on here. Myself included!

I wonder how quickly Tonda would have got Saints going if he was in charge in the summer. Either way he got time to assess the players etc during Stills tenure. 

 

It’s easy to just calculate the points we might have had if Tonda’s results are projected over the season but as you say, might not have worked that way. And his appointment would have been surprising.

Coming into a different  country and set up to get things going might have been too much at once. Instead of which he had a few months to see the club, settle and put his ideas in place.

Had he been appointed in the summer then, there would have been big questions asked. But personally I wouldn’t have found it much more underwhelming than Still. I’d have preferred Cleverley to Still, although Rohl had been my preferred option. 
 

(After a poor start Cleverley has turned Plymouth round. Fully expect he’ll be back in the Championship in the next couple of years with Argyle or elsewhere). 

 

[Sheaf Saint]

46 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I don't actually think he's a terrible manager 

I do. I saw nothing whatsoever during his time with us to suggest he's anything else.

The team looked completely unfit and disorganised, he had no idea how to use our two best attacking players Scienza and Azaz and frequently just dropped them completely, and his entire tactical vision seemed to be: winning = throw on more defenders to protect the lead; losing = chuck on loads of attackers and go 3-2-5 in a desperate attempt to score. 

I've seen teams better managed in my local park on a Sunday morning.

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Agreed here. If Tonda was appointed in the summer there would have been a melt down on here. Myself included!

Still talked a good game with a pragmatic style but the job was too much.

I wonder how quickly Tonda would have got Saints going if he was in charge in the summer. Either way he got time to assess the players etc during Stills tenure. 

 

Maybe we needed the rock bottom but after hull in order for the reset and to change the mindset. Maybe he'd have had problems getting things sorted and maybe we'd have still got trash like Downs, loaning Bree and starting Bazunu which would have given him problems too.

[hypochondriac]

56 minutes ago, Badger said:

No idea why that might be. His interviews tended to be a slow motion wreckage. 

Did he ?

I couldn’t see the attraction in the appointment when he was first linked, and any interviews reinforced my view that it seemed completely disjointed. Seemed quite a leap in faith to think he’d get coherent ideas across. Tonda has been a breath of fresh air by comparison. 

Not sure I agree with that. His YouTube videos and things when he was talking in French made him seem quite direct and interesting. If he was successful everyone would love the way he talked, like how Tonda is actually really odd and his interviews are largely crap but no one cares because he's very successful. They'd be hating what he's like if he was losing.

[hypochondriac]

31 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

I do. I saw nothing whatsoever during his time with us to suggest he's anything else.

The team looked completely unfit and disorganised, he had no idea how to use our two best attacking players Scienza and Azaz and frequently just dropped them completely, and his entire tactical vision seemed to be: winning = throw on more defenders to protect the lead; losing = chuck on loads of attackers and go 3-2-5 in a desperate attempt to score. 

I've seen teams better managed in my local park on a Sunday morning.

Plenty of evidence at other clubs that he's a half decent manager even if he didn't show much during his brief tenure here. I would suggest he probably missed his regular support staff and wasn't experienced enough to handle the job largely on his own. 

[stknowle]

On 10/04/2026 at 17:44, HKsaint said:

I think he should go home and play his football manager. 

A ruthless but ultimately not entirely unreasonable given how shit he was assertion HK my old pal.

[SNSUN]

Will Still after Saints win the play-off final: " I laid the foundations". 

[Turkish]

44 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

Will Still after Saints win the play-off final: " I laid the foundations". 

I reckon Russell Martin and Les Reed will also be claiming that 

[Turkish]

10 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Plenty of evidence at other clubs that he's a half decent manager even if he didn't show much during his brief tenure here. I would suggest he probably missed his regular support staff and wasn't experienced enough to handle the job largely on his own. 

There is but I don’t care he was unbelievably shit for us. We were losing, thrown on another striker were winning thrown on another defender. His tactic was to smash it long, I would leave games thinking it must be the players it must be the fans who can’t what he’s trying to do. How can someone with such a great reputation be so absolutely shit. Then I went to the Blackburn game. We had great seats behind the goal right in the middle. We were 1-0 up, he brought on a defender meaning we had 4 centre backs and 6 defenders, away at fucking Blackburn who I thinks the time hasn’t won a home game all season. The last 20 minutes were as bad as I’ve ever seen from anyone it was shambolic no one where to be or what to do and it was all down to Will Still. I liked him as a bloke and thought he’d be great but he was absolutely awful for us 

[hypochondriac]

Just now, Turkish said:

There is but I don’t care he was unbelievably shit for us. We were losing, thrown on another striker were winning thrown on another defender. His tactic was to smash it long, I would leave games thinking it must be the players it must be the fans who can’t what he’s trying to do. How can someone with such a great reputation be so absolutely shit. Then I went to the Blackburn game. We had great seats behind the goal right in the middle. We were 1-0 up, he brought on a defender meaning we had 4 centre backs and 6 defenders, away at fucking Blackburn who I thinks the time hasn’t won a home game all season. The last 20 minutes were as bad as I’ve ever seen from anyone it was shambolic no one where to be or what to do and it was all down to Will Still. I liked him as a bloke and thought he’d be great but he was absolutely awful for us 

Definitely not defending him I'm just saying it wouldn't surprise me if he was successful at other clubs and in other circumstances because he already has been. He's not someone like Selles who will be useless wherever he goes.

[IFHP]

I thought he was fucking shit.

[Turkish]

4 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Definitely not defending him I'm just saying it wouldn't surprise me if he was successful at other clubs and in other circumstances because he already has been. He's not someone like Selles who will be useless wherever he goes.

I hope he does he seems a decent guy but I don’t see it. As has been proven he had one of the best squads in the championship facing a relegation battle. He’lL end up back in Belgium but no way will he work in England again

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I hope he does he seems a decent guy but I don’t see it. As has been proven he had one of the best squads in the championship facing a relegation battle. He’lL end up back in Belgium but no way will he work in England again

Possibly not although he's young enough so who knows in the future. Did shit here and well at Lens and who knows what sort of manager he will be in a decade When he won't even be mid 40s

[Cuddles]

I think it was probably a case of Swiss cheese:

1. Low morale amongst players
2. Poor goalkeeping options
3. Poor striker options
4. Confused tactics (possibly due to the above), which got more confusing the more desperate he became
5. High expectations
6. Lack of Championship experience

But...most importantly

7. He didn't look like he could motivate a squad that had been through a horrendous PL campaign or the fans for that matter
7. Plus he was fucking useless

[ally_uk]

Looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights day 1, go back and watch 1st interviews etc. Looked Nervous and panicky AF 

[Harry_SFC]

10 hours ago, Turkish said:

I reckon Russell Martin and Les Reed will also be claiming that 

Tbf Will Still doesn't seem like that kind of guy. The other two though...

[Lord Duckhunter]

19 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Definitely not defending him I'm just saying it wouldn't surprise me if he was successful at other clubs and in other circumstances because he already has been. He's not someone like Selles who will be useless wherever he goes.

Is that the same Selles that did a great job at Reading? 
 

He even did a better job at hull than Still did at saints. 
 

Edited 3 hours ago by Lord Duckhunter

[Zorba]

Ali Dia of football management. Best forgotten.