‘I told the directors’: Manager who Sunderland want drops ‘honest’ claim over ‘flattering’ interest

Will Still has explained his ‘honest’ stance on how he wants to deal with Sunderland’s interest this summer.

Will Still has managed Ligue 1 club Reims since 2022 and quickly went viral due to being 30 years old, and also causing the club to be fined €25,000 every match due to him not holding a UEFA Pro Licence.

The Belgian-English coach has done very well since though, with Reims currently sat six points off a place in the Europa League next season.

Still was first linked with a move to Sunderland following Tony Mowbray’s sacking in December, and was said to have held talks with the Black Cats. However, they eventually made the mistake of appointing Michael Beale instead.

Unsurprisingly, his own exit led to even more speculation around Still, and the 31-year-old wasn’t afraid to address it.

Only days after Beale’s departure, Still told The Athletic that he would ‘love’ to join an ‘ambitious’ Championship club, sparking rumours that he would be interested in moving to Wearside this summer.

There has been little talk since though, with Kristjaan Speakman likely looking at all his options in the months that he has before Mike Dodds will be replaced permanently.

Still has now been questioned on his candidness on podcast L’Enfer du Banc.

He said: “I prefer to be perfectly honest and completely open with everyone because it avoids rumours, it avoids the ‘someone told me that…’, it avoids innuendos that are detestable in the world of football, and I prefer to be transparent.

“I told the directors here: ‘Yeah, there are clubs that call me, there are clubs that are interested in what we do, because I’m never by myself’. I find that flattering. I think I would be stupid to not find that flattering. If people ask me, I’m not going to start lying, to make the outside world feel that I’m stressed when I’m not. That’s why I said it, especially with that humorous tone.”

Could Sunderland appoint Will Still?

While Reims certainly won’t want Will Still to go, if Sunderland are prepared to pay his compensation fee, then I’m sure he would encourage the switch.

His recent comments do suggest he would be up for joining Sunderland, though I think it would very much depend on his talks with the owner and Speakman and how that would go.

Many managers would be put off by the lack of control that Sunderland would allow him, but hopefully the club’s ambition and our eagerness to bring in young players could tempt him.

He certainly seems like a good fit for us, but it does seem to good to be true. Last time we all thought we were getting Still, we ended up with Michael Beale, so we shouldn’t get too excited.