Reims announce Will Still departure with immediate effect

Stade de Reims have announced that Will Still has left the club with immediate effect. The decision came after a meeting with club president Jean-Pierre Caillot and CEO Matthieu Lacour on Thursday morning.

Still, who replaced Oscar Garcia as manager in the first half of the 2022/23 season, led Reims to an 11th-place finish in Ligue 1 this season. Once again, the club sit 11th in France’s top-flight with three games to go. Les Stadistes remain in contention for European football for next season with the club six points of sixth-placed RC Lens, however, following a 4-1 defeat to bottom side Clermont Foot, which Still described as the “worst day of [his] career”, it is unlikely that Reims will secure European qualification.

It has been a season dominated by rumours of Still moving away from Reims. He was heavily linked with the managerial role at Sunderland, which he ultimately did not take and in an interview with The Athletic, Still revealed a desire to “come home” and manage a team either in the Premier League or the Championship.

Still will now leave Reims with immediate effect as he seeks to achieve his objective of finding a job in England. “At the heart of the club’s project, known and renowned for its capacity to reveal talents, we are proud to have contributed to the breakthrough of a manager that has managed to impose his convictions and his playing style,” said Caillot in an official statement.

“I thank Stade de Reims, President Caillot and Matthieu Lacour for giving me this unique opportunity and for having supported me throughout my journey here. I am eternally grateful […] Stade Delaune and the Champagne [region] will always have a special place in my lif and I will always be the biggest supporter of the Red and Whites,” said Still in the statement. Will Still’s brother, Nicolas Still, who was part of the backroom staff, also leaves the club.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle

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