Will Still, the new Lens coach, was presented to the press this afternoon. For his first conference, he appeared, next to Pierre Dréossi, the general manager, very relaxed, straightforward and funny. He seemed very enthusiastic about the idea of joining Lens. The tone was set from the start. “I was told it was disgusting in Lens but it’s Dubai!”
“How did your arrival go?”
The first contacts took place at the beginning of June. They wanted to send me to England but I want to be patient, make the right choices at the right time. It’s essential to build a career of 25-30 years, not 3-4 years. And I told the goalkeeping coach of Reims that if I had to go to a club in France, I would like to go to Lens. It was obvious, I have never hidden my ambitions and my love for the mining villages. I didn’t think about it for very long. Lens is an institution, an incredible story. It’s the most English of French clubs. So my choice was logical. It’s not more complicated than that.
You pass behind Franck Haise. Not easy?
I will never compare myself to Franck Haise. He’s a legend of Lens, of French football. I like the coach, his personality. I’m not here to replace him. Hats off for everything he achieved. Going from L2 to C1 is impressive. I simply want to write a new chapter in the history of the club which, I hope, will be long.
What style will you advocate?
It’s not far from what Franck was doing, not far from what I was doing with Reims. I want to play with enormous intensity. And this squad is full of qualities, of individuality. I’m going to lean on it. The foundation is more than solid here.
It is a heavy legacy…
I don’t put pressure on myself. I respect what Franck did but everyone is aware that it is the end of a beautiful story and the opening of a new chapter with my personality which says crazy things sometimes. I’m not going to make him forget. We will try to continue to bring beautiful emotions to life.
“I’m only 31, I’m going to make mistakes but I’ve learned a lot over the last 18 months, for good or bad. »
Will Still, entraîneur du RC Lens
Does your personality play tricks on you sometimes?
Some of my statements were taken out of context and I was given an image of a guy that I am not at all. I’m just normal. I don’t use words I don’t understand. And this is also one of the conditions of my coming here, I spoke about it to the club. Communication is part of this role as a coach, I have to progress. I’m still Will, I’m not going to change but I need support on this level. I’m only 31, I’m going to make mistakes but I’ve learned a lot over the last 18 months, for good or bad. But I will never take myself for someone else.
This is the first time that you are reunited with your two brothers…
It’s pretty cool. It’s a privilege. Nico (Nicolas) worked with me in Reims, and I had never worked with Edward. But after discussions, we realized that it was the best thing to work together and not try to fight (laughing). But we are different in our characters. Ultimately, we don’t need to talk to each other. Ed will be deputy number 1 and Nico 2 but there will be no order in fact. We are very, very complementary in our differences. The only thing we have in common with Ed is that we’re redheads. And he’s maybe a little prettier than me (laughing). There too, it was obvious to work together. We planned to meet for 2 or 3 hours to see how it could work and after 20 minutes, everything was complete. We knew what we wanted to do, we still won the World Cup with Sweden on FIFA, 14 years ago, so we are super ambitious! »
