Will Still gives his first sit down interview on becoming new Southampton manager

Will Still gives his first sit down interview on becoming the new manager of Southampton, preparing for life in the Championship.

The 32 year old is thrilled about his role at Southampton, citing a warm welcome from fans and staff, being in attendance for the last game of the Premier League season.

He was convinced to join due to the club’s alignment with his career goals, the exciting football project, and personal family ties to the region.

Will aims to implement a high-energy, proactive playing style, focusing on aggressive pressing and dominating possession to entertain fans and win consistently.

He places significant emphasis on creating a positive, inclusive environment where players thrive as both athletes and individuals.

With 13 years of professional football experience, including roles as a video analyst, assistant coach, and head coach, Will values the early timing of his appointment, allowing him to prepare thoroughly for pre-season.

He sees immense potential in Southampton’s infrastructure and talent, aiming to leverage these to achieve success.

The strong support from fans, despite a challenging season, further motivates him to foster a deep connection with them, believing their backing is crucial for winning games.

Interviewer: How does it feel to be taking on this opportunity and the role of men’s first team manager here at the club?

Will: It’s brilliant. I’m absolutely delighted to be here. I think the welcome from everyone whether supporters staff here, people within the club has been brilliant and yeah, enjoy holiday first, but then can’t wait to get started. Can’t wait to to see everyone and and yeah properly kick off next season.

Interviewer: How did you find the discussions with the club during this process? Both in terms of how you fit with them, but also how the club fits with you personally as well.

Will: Well, I think that’s the thing that convinced me the most. I’ve been pretty open about, you know, coming back to England at some point in my career. You know there have been opportunities there have been you know discussions with various people. But I think I always said if I come back and when I come back I wanted to be with the right people uh the right environment the right place with the right projects you know set up. I think all those those all that criteria was met. I think that the the the sporting project or the football project was really interesting and something that I could sort of identify myself to. But then on the other side there was you know the club, the people, the the environment and the opportunity there is to work for Southampton. It just it all clicked. You know my family have have studied here and and have got family links to the to the region. So yeah, in the end it was a no-brainer really. Everything just all boxes were ticked and I and I just it just felt right. So I thought, “Yeah, let’s go for it.”

Interviewer: And what can people expect from from you and what you want your teams to look like in terms of kind of style, philosophy, and identity?

Will: High energy. I think I’ve always said I’d like to be proactive. I don’t like to to sit in and wait and be be passive in what we do. I, you know, I’d like our teams to to to dominate, to go and press, to be as aggressive as we can be. And I don’t do that just for the fact of running and to say, “Oh, we’re going to be really aggressive.” We want to be high up the pitch and in the opposition’s, you know, sort of last third as much as possible. And it’s being entertaining. I want the players to enjoy it. I want, you know, the fans obviously to to get on board and and support it. But it’s creating that environment where we’re here to win and we want to win a lot and we want to win consistently. You know, how do we do that? Are we going to be how do we do that in our behaviours? How do we do that, you know, every day on the training pitch? And it’s just for me being as positive as we can be, as open and as honest with with everyone so that everyone’s on board and everyone’s sort of reading and getting the same message. And by doing that, you set up an environment where people feel good in and people want to be and and that’s what I want to create. I want to be this high energy team with with, you know, good humans in it and good people in it. Who actually enjoy doing ultimately the best job in the world. and yeah, winning. Yeah, hopefully as much as we can.

Interviewer: I was going to ask about the sort of environment side of it because obviously there’s always a big importance on the coaching and the tactics and the kind of pure football side of it, but how much emphasis do you place on that environment and the the culture that you want to create here at the training ground and within the group?

Will: Massive. Massive. And I think, you know, we obviously want people to be a part of it. We want people to be able to identify themselves to the team, the club, and the environment that we’re trying to create. And to do that, we need them to feel good in it. And we want these people to sort of come in with a smile on their face and just be as positive as possible, but knowing in the background that we’re doing this to win games of football and we want to push and we want to be the best that we can be. But that’s being the best footballers that we can be, but it’s also being the best people we can be. People look up to us, people, you know, have have posters of of the players in their room. So, we want to be obviously good players, but I think the people side of it is is really important. Just be normal, be, you know, be relaxed, be laidback, but be focused and and the right person to be able to win games of football.

Interviewer: How much does your kind of emphasis on that and your understanding of that has been shaped by your experience so far in coaching and management? Because you’re obviously young in terms of age, but in terms of experience, you’re not. You’ve had plenty of that.

Will: Yeah. Well, we were talking about it yesterday. It’s, you know, this is my 13th season in professional football, so I’ve been in a few dressing rooms. I’ve seen a few players. And it’s massive and and working in different cultures, seeing different players from, you know, all around the world. Basically, you just get to know people. You get to understand what certain players need, what other players needs and you you build up this this this general picture and and environment that you want to create where you know everyone can fit in and everyone feels good in that. But it’s obviously been influenced massively by yeah all the various and different things that I’ve done. You know I started off as a video analyst, made my way up as an assistant coach and then as a head coach. So you see all different parts of it which was you know definitely interesting. But like I say I want to win and I want to win as much as we can.

Interviewer: How beneficial is the timing of the appointment for you to to get it done right at the start of the summer so you’ve got that kind of head space to plan and prepare and then begin properly working with the players right from the start of pre-season.

Will: It’s ideal I think. I hadn’t expected it, you know, as I left Lens. So, I hadn’t really expected to sort of walk into the next thing as as soon as this. But the opportunity came up and it just allows you to meet people that allows you to get a feel of the training ground, get a feel of the stadium. try and understand as much you can like what the supporters want, what the people inside the club want, and in what direction is this, you know, the what direction is the best to go in with everyone. And now, yeah, like I said, I’ve got sort of four or five weeks before pre-season kicks off. You get to talk to the players, you get to understand them a bit better, you see their behaviours yesterday on the match day, which is which is ideal, and yeah, allows you to come back in for preseason and just to sort of hit the ground running, which is which is really good.

Interviewer: It was obviously a very challenging season that the clubs come off the back of, having had a fantastic one before that, too. I mean from your perspective when you you look at what exists here, how do you feel about the potential for the future and how bright it can be moving forward?

Will: I think it’s huge. I think it’s massive. You know, walked around the training ground this morning, just the infrastructure, whether it be the stadium or Staplewood, it’s massive and you can do so many things and create the the right environment for everyone to be in. But then also, you know, players wise, there’s there’s a lot of talent and I, you know, Southampton has always had the reputation of bringing very good players through the through the ranks. So, it’s yeah, the possibilities are sort of endless. And you know, it’ll be up to us to sort of get the best out of everyone and use all this infrastructure and use all these these good people to to be as competitive and yeah, again, win as many games as we can.

Interviewer: As you said were at the final game of the season at St. Mary’s and had one or two chances of Will Still’s red and white army coming from the northern end. How did you find the whole reception that that you got and the kind of warmth that you’ve had from from supporters after being appointed?

Will: It’s brilliant to be honest. It’s brilliant. I think that the support cuz I’ve obviously watched you know a huge number of games from from this season and the support has just never stopped. You know, as difficult as circumstances were and as you know, bad as the results were at times, the support has just always been there and it’s always been positive and the, you know, the the welcome and and response I got yesterday just walking around the place and and bumping into people has been has been brilliant. So hopefully we can, you know, get everyone on board and just just try and be open, normal, honest people that that want to win games of football. That would be that would be ideal. And I think, you know, Southampton is is the right place for that to happen. Yeah.

Interviewer: How much importance do you place on that connection with the the fan base?

Will: Again, I think it’s it’s one of the key things. I think if the supporters can understand and can see what we’re trying to do and they can identify themselves to the team that’s on the pitch, they can really get behind us and and it makes a huge difference. Um, you know, if if we go back to the co years, that was just the worst possible time to to be coached or to be playing football. Southampton has that fan base. It’s it’s it’s very loyal. It’s very uh intense when it needs to be. And it and it understands, you know, that the where the team is at. So, as much as they can get behind us, the better, and as many games as we can win together because they all obviously have an impact on the results as well then the better it is for everyone.