The truth behind the meteoric rise of reported West Ham manager target Will Still will seriously excite some fans about what he could bring.
A host of managers have been linked as potential replacements for David Moyes at West Ham amid reports of a parting of the ways come the summer.
One in particular has become an increasingly intriguing option among some West Ham supporters – Will Still.
You all know his 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.
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, breaking records in the process.
The Belgian-English son of a West Ham fan, Still grew up besotted with his beloved Hammers.
And he has openly admitted he dreams of managing West Ham.
Still famously honed his early managerial skills on the video game Football Manager.
But there is much more to his success than that.
The truth behind the meteoric rise of reported West Ham manager target Still will seriously excite fans about what he could bring.
That’s should the Hammers part ways with Moyes in the summer – which is what one report has claimed will happen ‘regardless’.
West Ham have historically struggled to spend big money well. Almost all of the club’s transfer successes have been little known players or stars from lower divisions.
Truth behind meteoric rise of reported West Ham manager target Will Still will seriously excite fans about what he could bring
West Ham must find new and inventive ways to compete for and sign top, young and hungry talent without paying over the odds or making costly mistakes.
Well Still is working in a structure at Reims which could revolutionise that side of West Ham’s operation – without having to change much at all.
In a feature with L’Équipe, Reims CEO Mathieu Lacour has outlined the support structure at the club which has helped make Still a success.
Reims are carrying out a very deliberate five-year project, based around international talent. The first phase of the plan saw Stade de Reims focus on Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and French-speaking areas. The second phase saw the arrival of English speakers.
Reims operate entirely without a recruitment department or scouts L’Équipe reveal.
Watch: Will Still’s amazing bilingual skills in training ground video.
Instead, it is the triumvirate of Lacour, Yann Kombouaré and sporting director Pol-Édouard Caillot (the latter is the son of the president, Jean-Pierre) who believe that they are performing well in the transfer market because of their network and leveraging of technology (data analytics and video analysis tools).
“We use TransferRoom a lot, a platform that connects clubs and organises three annual conferences where we meet other individuals at clubs in a sort of speed dating, which allows for the efficiency of a reduced decision-making chain,” Lacour states.
“As a three, we are agile. We save time, and therefore money, by not overpaying players because we are often the first onto them. There are no intermediaries. We are moving at a cruising speed,” Kombouaré adds.
if West Ham did make a drastic change to bring in someone like Still, it seems they would not have to spend millions on an elaborate setup above him if they wanted try to recreate what Reims are doing across The Channel.
And it is clearly reaping big rewards based on the success of the first team under the alleged Hammers managerial target.
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