Lifelong Hammers fan Will Still has long been linked as a potential future manager of West Ham but he has just ensured he will never get the job while David Sullivan remains at the helm.
When West Ham were searching for a manager to replace David Moyes, Julen Lopetegui and Graham Potter, Will Still was consistently raised as a possibility.
Still has been persistently linked with his boyhood club West Ham since making a name for himself as an unlicensed rookie manager in France.
The 33-year-old English-Belgian, multi-lingual coach has previously put on record that he dreams of managing his beloved West Ham one day.
Will Still says West Ham has lost its soul under David Sullivan
It was reported Still was once on a six-man shortlist to replace Moyes at West Ham after leading Reims from relegation danger to the brink of a Champions League spot in Ligue 1.
At the time Still was spotted at the London Stadium for a win over Nottingham Forest, sparking rumours he had met with West Ham’s majority owner David Sullivan.
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Sullivan spoke on the record about the Still rumours at the time, admitting he admired the young boss.
But the billionaire insisted it would be ‘too big a risk’ at the time, although he did add the caveat: ‘never say never’.
That will likely have all changed now, though, as Still talks himself out of the West Ham job while Sullivan remains in charge.
Hammers News understands Nuno Espirito Santo will not be in charge next season if West Ham are relegated.
So Still’s name could yet come back into the frame, especially as he recently managed Southampton in the second tier.
But he is not likely to get the Hammers job anytime soon with Sullivan buying more shares and insisting he is here to stay.
Still talks himself out of West Ham job by saying owners have destroyed the club’s DNA
Because Still says West Ham has lost its soul during Sullivan’s tenure, blaming the owners’ insistence on moving to the London Stadium, managerial upheaval and constant changes as key reasons.
Still says he is saddened by what the club has become and feels the owners have lost the West Ham DNA with their actions.
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In fact Still is so disenchanted about his beloved Hammers and preoccupied with his career that he admits he is not as avid a fan as he once was.
“I think with West Ham it feels that the club has kind of lost its soul almost and DNA of what West Ham used to be,” Still told The Overlap.
“Because of the stadium, because of the number of managers that we’ve had over the years and the number of changes that have constantly gone on.
“But I think, you know, West Ham, and everyone says, you’ve got to play the West Ham way. But then Sam Allardyce comes into the club when we were in the Champ(ionship), and I think one of the questions in the first press conference was “Are you going to play the West Ham way?”
“And he looks at down the camera and says, well, what’s the West Ham way? Getting relegated? It’s like, fair point. And you know, he said, the West Ham way has got to be just winning games. And he got us back up, beat Blackpool in the play-off final. And you know, Ricardo Vaz Te scored a 90th minute winner and you’re kind of thinking, “this is West Ham”. It was completely different (under Allardyce), but it was still something that you could identify yourself to as a supporter.
“But today, am I a massive West Ham fan? I’ll always, you know, have that place for West Ham inside me, but you’re so busy with, you know, your job and other teams that it’s like, yeah, you can’t, you can’t really be a fan anymore.”
With Still almost certainly out of the running following his criticism of the way the club has been run, Scott Parker is the perfect fit as next West Ham boss with Nuno’s exit on the cards if they drop.
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