Dimitri Payet and co brought West Ham fan Will Still’s remarkable fairytale record to an end but it doesn’t tell the full story.
Although he was an unused substitute, former West Ham star Payet was part of the Marseille squad that put a stop to the outstanding run being enjoyed by Hammers fan Still at Reims.
A host of managers have been linked as potential replacements for David Moyes at West Ham given the club’s woeful Premier League season.
One in particular has become an increasingly intriguing option among some Hammers supporters.
You all know the Will Still story by now.
But for those who don’t – Still is the young manager who has been taking Ligue 1 by storm with unfancied Reims.
The remarkable story about Still and what he has been doing at Reims is fascinating.
Hammers News suggested recently that Still is a man worth keeping an eye on given the club’s continued struggles under Moyes.
Still was promoted to the head coach role at Reims after the team’s spectacular performances while he was interim boss in the run-up to the World Cup.
The 30-year-old is Europe’s youngest manager. And he is making serious waves with Reims after leading them from the relegation zone right up into the European mix.
The Belgian-English son of a West Ham fan, Still grew up besotted with his beloved Hammers.
And last month he admitted he dreams of managing West Ham.
Still, whose team have become renowned for resilience and attacking verve – regularly scoring three and four goals in a game – showed his amazing bilingual skills in a recent training ground video.
Speaking in an interview with Coaches Voice a couple of weeks ago, Still doubled down on his hunger to manage West Ham in the future.
Many have been writing the boyhood Hammer off as a managerial flash in the pan.
But his Reims extended the longest active unbeaten run in Europe’s top five leagues with a 1-0 win at Monaco last weekend.
The man who famously honed his management skills on the video game Football Manager had overseen 10 wins and nine draws in the last 19 games.
The win meant that Les Rouges et Blancs had not lost a single Ligue 1 game since the arrival of the supposed novice boss in October 2022.
But there was a hint of irony that it would be a Marseille squad captained by a former hero turned villain of Still’s beloved West Ham who would put a halt to the fairytale.
Payet and co brought West Ham fan Still’s remarkable fairytale record to an end but it doesn’t tell the full story.
Marseille came from behind to beat Reims 2-1 last night and end Still’s run.
But Still’s men were indisputably the better team and impressed with their genuine attacking intent as they had Marseille penned in their own half for long periods.
Reims may have seen the record end but they recorded more shots, more shots on target, more possession and more passes than their opponents.
So while the record has come to an end, Still has proved he is no gimmick and his side showed the kind of front-foot approach West Ham supporters want to see from their own side.
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