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 April 11 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 April 12 by Lord Duckhunter

[Zorba]

Ali Dia of football management. Best forgotten.

[CSA96]

55:39 onwards is Southampton reflections for the last 25 minutes. He's very honest

Basically saying he was too loose with the coaching and style of play and the players defaulted back to Russell Martin coaching principles and he wanted them to leave that in the past. Sounds like he tried to encourage them to have freedom but didn't give enough direction

Interestingly also says he struggled with the size of the squad and the amount of activity during the transfer windows, as well as admitting that he should've used Jack Stephens - and others - differently to how he did

 

Edited 10 hours ago by CSA96

[Toadhall Saint]

8 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

55:39 onwards is Southampton reflections for the last 25 minutes. He's very honest

Basically saying he was too loose with the coaching and style of play and the players defaulted back to Russell Martin coaching principles and he wanted them to leave that in the past. Sounds like he tried to encourage them to have freedom but didn't give enough direction

Interestingly also says he struggled with the size of the squad and the amount of activity during the transfer windows, as well as admitting that he should've used Jack Stephens - and others - differently to how he did

 

Basically our if his depth or too nice.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

24 minutes ago, CSA96 said:

55:39 onwards is Southampton reflections for the last 25 minutes. He's very honest

Basically saying he was too loose with the coaching and style of play and the players defaulted back to Russell Martin coaching principles and he wanted them to leave that in the past. Sounds like he tried to encourage them to have freedom but didn't give enough direction

Interestingly also says he struggled with the size of the squad and the amount of activity during the transfer windows, as well as admitting that he should've used Jack Stephens - and others - differently to how he did

 

He's consistent. Some of the things he mentioned, he spoke about (very honestly) when he was our manager.

His background could get him a berth in a number of countries.

If he was still on our payroll, we could have offered him the Valenciennes project. 🙂

[CSA96]

25 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

Basically our if his depth or too nice.

Yeah, sounds that way. Ties in with the reports of an unnamed club captain going to his chairman to tell him the players were concerned about the coaching they were receiving. Alfie House has also shared those thoughts too, saying that from what he knows, the players didn't feel like they knew exactly what he wanted, subs going into games not understanding what's expected of them when they come onto the pitch etc.

And then when Tonda came in, I remember THB and many others saying that Tonda's coaching had 'clarified things' for them and given them direction. So can only conclude that they all felt a bit lost and unsure of themselves with his coaching and lack of direction, which led to the kind of directionless football that we were all watching where they'd default back to old habits, before Tonda told them 'I don't want you doing that, I want you doing this' and trained it into them more tightly

Edited 9 hours ago by CSA96

[skintsaint]

Basically didn't know tactically how to setup the team, wanted to play a certain way but teams wouldn't let us do it by playing in different styles to what he was used to.

No plan B and it confused the squad.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

25 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Basically didn't know tactically how to setup the team, wanted to play a certain way but teams wouldn't let us do it by playing in different styles to what he was used to.

No plan B and it confused the squad.

Good summary. Supported by his own comments. He was learning his way to finding solutions with the squad. That was painful all round, as it changed from what had been in place through things he tried, but then had to adjust.

Tonda seems to have come in with already prepared solutions. He's no doubt also building on those relentlessly, while Still hadn't found that foundation to do that.

[Southner]

22 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Good summary. Supported by his own comments. He was learning his way to finding solutions with the squad. That was painful all round, as it changed from what had been in place through things he tried, but then had to adjust.

Tonda seems to have come in with already prepared solutions. He's no doubt also building on those relentlessly, while Still hadn't found that foundation to do that.

Got to love how completely focused Tonda looks. 

[Cuddles]

47 minutes ago, Southner said:

Got to love how completely focused Tonda looks. 

The man is a machine.

[Doctoroncall]

1 hour ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Good summary. Supported by his own comments. He was learning his way to finding solutions with the squad. That was painful all round, as it changed from what had been in place through things he tried, but then had to adjust.

Tonda seems to have come in with already prepared solutions. He's no doubt also building on those relentlessly, while Still hadn't found that foundation to do that.

Good call on the foundation piece, Still seems to be a decent manager when things are more or less in place and he can work with the players to express themselves and support them. The trouble was, he couldn’t eliminate the past season and shift the players to think for themselves, i.e, provide the foundation to move onto how he wanted them to play. 

Compounded by a terrible keeper and no striker. Odds were against him and a more experienced coach may have made a better impression. Anyway, struck gold with Tonda.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Load of old pony & excuses. Too many players, how many did Tonda have the day he started. Ross got injured, maybe you should have managed him like Tonda does. He’s trying to imply that conditions for managing the club are better now, more clarity etc, whereas the reality is given more time he’d of made it even worse. He was out of his depth, that’s it, that’s the issue. Not too many players, not using Jack differently, not Downes  getting sick or Ross getting injured. 

[AlexLaw76]

We were shyte under Still. The home game against Wrexham was bad (despite the win) and the mess at Blackburn just sums up that whole period.

 

[Dman]

Also threw in that he didn't bring his own staff. 

A shame noone reminded him that his previous assistant / brother has proven to be absolutely shite as well. 

Comfortably the worst manager we've had, pound for pound given resources, in many many years - if not ever. 

[Toadhall Saint]

He was given a glut of good players but didn’t know what to do with them - his best view on the use of subs seemed to be send them all on at hand same time hoping for some kind of cavalry charge (into the valley of death rode the ……. Springs to mind). 

[Saint NL]

4 hours ago, skintsaint said:

No plan B and it confused the squad.

He had a plan B, if we were losing then chuck on some strikers; if we were winning then bring on more defenders.

 

We had a plan B and it was shit.

[Saint Garrett]

2 hours ago, Toadhall Saint said:

He was given a glut of good players but didn’t know what to do with them - his best view on the use of subs seemed to be send them all on at hand same time hoping for some kind of cavalry charge (into the valley of death rode the ……. Springs to mind). 

It was also a hugely damaged and unbalance, bloated squad.

[a1ex2001]

I’ll give him a little leeway as he had a terrible GK and only one striker but he failed miserably to get a tune out of a decent squad and persisted in making the same dumb choices over and over again which reminded me of Martin.  I’ve decided I’m not a fan of coaches who have a rigid system they want to stick to regardless of the players available or the circumstances managers need to be flexible, able to work with a squad and change things that obviously are not working!

[Miltonaggro]

I liked Still as a bloke and wanted him to do well, but he never seemed to have the players on side.  I noticed this during pre-season in Spain but thought there was a chance things would improve, but they didn't.  In the modern game if you can't galvanise the team you are toast!

[saintwbu]

For me the thing that stood out is that I don’t remember a single game where I thought we were good for the entirety of it. Some will mention Swansea at home, as he does in that interview, but I remember leaving that game thinking yes we should have won but I still didn’t think we looked a good, cohesive team who were in control. Under Tonda we were the better in all of those first games he won, and every single one of them was better than any game under Will Still.

[Football Special]

17 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

For me the thing that stood out is that I don’t remember a single game where I thought we were good for the entirety of it. Some will mention Swansea at home, as he does in that interview, but I remember leaving that game thinking yes we should have won but I still didn’t think we looked a good, cohesive team who were in control. Under Tonda we were the better in all of those first games he won, and every single one of them was better than any game under Will Still.

Norwich away in Carabao Cup was as good as it got 

[Graffito]

It was clear early on the players weren’t listening to him. 

[Gloucester Saint]

2 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

It was also a hugely damaged and unbalance, bloated squad.

It was, but alone his lack of judgement of seeing Gavin Bazunu in pre-season and thinking he’d be ok for a team chasing top 2/6 and then binning him as quickly as Gavin’s disaster at Hull was part of the issue. Tonda did initially make the mistake of going with him but pretty quickly and clearly said to Spors ‘this guy is a total Rasmus Ankersen joke, get me a more solid keeper on loan in January because Alex is middle aged as an alternative. Get the twat (Bazunu) gone’. It’s tricky in a new job but decrying his keeping options after Ramsdale went to Newcastle was the experienced manager thing to do. 

As others have identified, starting Ross Stewart 3 times in a week with his injury history when he found form was brainless. 

It’s a mystery that the right back at Brentford came here highly regarded but looked like Steve Baker under Still. Jelert is a tart and James Bree was loaned out, but has pissed all over these two since he came back.

Edited 2 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[chiknsmack]

Interesting comment at 21:28 (when in France): "I'm following a coach that's been there for seven years... but who'd built the squad in a 3-4-3. And 3-4-3 isn't a system I particularly like, it's not what I'd go to if I really had the choice."

Fodder for the "Rasmus made him do it" folks.