Still: I want a high energy, exciting team
New Southampton manager Will Still has laid out the vision for his team after taking charge at the club.
The 32-year-old was appointed Saints boss after departing French Ligue 1 outfit Lens this summer, with his sights now set on building a side and an environment that can bring Premier League football back to St Mary's.
In his first interview since taking on the role, Still gave an insight into the style of play and the identity that he wants fans to see from the team.
"High energy," he said. "I think I've always said I like to be proactive. I don't like to sit in and wait and be passive in what we do. I'd like our teams to dominate, to go and press, to be as aggressive as we can be.
"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 last third as much as possible. And it's being entertaining. I want the players to enjoy it, I want the fans obviously to get on board 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.
"How do we do that? How do we do that in our behaviours? How do we do that 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 everyone, so that everyone's on board and everyone's 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 that's what I want to create. I want to be this high energy team with good humans in it and good people in it, who actually enjoy doing ultimately the best job in the world. And winning, hopefully, as much as we can."
As well as the importance of the on-pitch work, Still places plenty of emphasis on creating a positive and results-focused culture behind the scenes.
"We obviously want people to be a part of it," he said. "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 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."
Still firmly believes that, despite the disappointment of the 2024/25 season, the building blocks for a bright future are very much in place and that, with the right approach and environment, there can be many good times ahead.
Assessing the club's potential, he said: "I think it's huge, I think it's massive. Walking 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 right environment for everyone to be in.
"But then also, players-wise, there's a lot of talent. Southampton has always had the reputation of bringing very good players through the ranks. So the possibilities are sort of endless. And it'll be up to us to get the best out of everyone and use all this infrastructure and use all these good people to be as competitive and win as many games as we can."
2025/26 Season Tickets for our Men’s First Team are on sale to all supporters now, with a deadline of Thursday 12th June for current Season Ticket Holders to renew their seat.
With an expanded home fixture list for 2025/26, Season Tickets now offer even greater value, starting from under £20 per match for adults and around £3 per match for Under-14s.
