LENS, FRANCE - DECEMBER 16: Coach of Stade de Reims Will Still looks on during the Ligue 1 Uber Eats match between RC Lens (RCL) and Stade de Reims (SR) at Stade Bollaert-Delelis on December 16, 2023 in Lens, France. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
Sunderland have been urged to avoid hiring Will Still as their next manager this summer.
Sunderland can finally press on with their managerial search after the 2023/24 season concluded with a disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Sheffield Wednesday.
That defeat summed up the season as a whole with the Black Cats finishing in 16th, and Mike Dodds ending his interim spell with just two wins from 13 games; nine points from a possible 39, with only Rotherham United taking less points than Sunderland since the start of 2024.
And Sunderland’s season has rather coincidentally aligned with managerial target Still leaving Reims.
The 31-year-old Belgian-English coach mutually agreed to part ways with Reims at the start of May following a run of three-straight defeats and five games without a win.
Reims’ club president said that matters at the club have been a ‘nightmare’ since Still was linked with Sunderland shortly after Tony Mowbray‘s exit from the Stadium of Light.
There’s growing speculation on social media that Still will become the next Sunderland manager, but club legend Marco Gabbiadini has urged the Black Cats to think twice before hiring the young manager.
Marco Gabbiadini urges Sunderland to avoid Will Still
Speaking on Total Sport, former Sunderland striker and now BBC pundit Gabbiadini gave his verdict on the Still to Sunderland rumours.
He questioned the former Reims boss’ experience, saying: “I’m just not sure about Will Still, whether he is the kind of person who, if we start the season with a couple of defeats and a couple of draws, how would he handle that as a young manager at a club with a fan base that is desperate for success, voices its concerns in the most outward way imaginable in football.
“The Sunderland crowd let people know what they’re thinking, and I think, for me, I would be looking for more experience.”
Why Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has shot himself in the foot at Sunderland
Louis-Dreyfus looks dead set on hiring someone like Still; a young and contemporary coach who will excite the fans.
And getting the fans on board with the next appointment is crucial, as we saw from the Michael Beale fall out earlier this season.
But hiring such an inexperienced manager obviously comes with its risks, like Gabbiadini says, and Louis-Dreyfus may now have backed himself into a corner where this next appointment is concerned.
Being so set on hiring a Still-type manager, if Sunderland were to now hire and tried and tested manager like Paul Heckingbottom for example, it would surely be met with disappointment as it’s not a Still or even a Rene Maric-type hire.
So for Louis-Dreyfus and Sunderland, it now feels feels like they almost have to take the risk on an inexperienced coach, and just hope and pray that they can handle the heat should times get tough.
If the appointment backfires and Still and Sunderland don’t work out together, then Louis-Dreyfus and indeed the club’s whole ‘vision’ will be brought into even more disregard.
Either way, it’ll be very interesting to see what goes down on Wearside this summer.
