Steven Gerrard could be poised to make a stunning return to Rangers as the club's search for a new manager reaches its final stages. (Daily Mail)
Leicester City are poised to sack manager Ruud van Nistelrooy and are in advanced talks to appoint former Southampton boss Russell Martin. (Football Insider)
Sounds very much like Russell Martin is off to Leicester and Will Still to Southampton. Both are interesting appointments. I feel like it might've been better for Martin to take a job at a slightly smaller Championship club. I do think there's a good manager in there but he's clearly got a lot to learn. Even then though I wouldn't necessarily back against him turning out to be a decent appointment. I know a lot less about Will Still but his reputation is obviously very strong. Nice to see English managers getting the top Championship jobs.
Should either of those managers be considered English though? Will Still was born and raised in Belgium and that is clearly central to his profile as a manager since he is a fluent French speaker. Russell Martin meanwhile represented Scotland at international level, despite being born and raised in England. Perhaps it is a superficial point but were he to coach a team in a final, his flag on Wikipedia would be a Scottish one, as Postecoglou and Amorim's are Australian and Portuguese. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_UEFA_Europa_League_final This is why it's kind of low-level annoying that, as well as losing the likes of Ademola Lookman, Scott McTominay, Brennan Johnson and so on - players who could potentially compete for a place in the England squad - we also "lose" a fair few potential future managers when English-born players further down the pyramid decide to represent another country.
Will Still, has said he identifies as English and obviously has a UK passport (he says the same about Belgium). I imagine many of the players you've mentioned, consider themselves both, if this wasn't a footballing context/conversation there be no need to pigeonhole them as a single nationality.
Yeah, that's true. I'm just asking myself, if Will Still won the PL as manager at some point, could we legitimately say that he has ended the wait for an English PL-winning manager? I don't doubt that the media would say that, but I think I'd find it slightly embarrassing given that he not really a product of English football. Martin and people like him are different, because they *are* products of English football. But, I mean, when Lookman switched to Nigeria, did any of us really continue to follow his progress? Did we get excited when he scored a hattrick in the Europa League final? For me personally, the answer to those questions are no. Ditto what McTominay is doing at Napoli.
Will Still was born and raised in Belgium but considers him self English and has actually completed part of his coaching education in England as his first coaching job was with Preston's youth team. He's only 32 and is still a developing manager and if he spends the next few years managing in England, he'll have spent a huge chunk of his coaching development here. Unless he was hell bent on identifying as Scottish, which he doesn't seem to be, I also don't think there's any way you can actually consider Russell Martin Scottish because his links to the country are about as tenuous as Antonee Robinson's to the US. If you listen to his recent interview with Gary Lineker, Lineker asks him if he considers himself Scottish, to which he says "I did, 6 times a year".
If Will Still was born and raised in Australia he would have an Aussie accent so we would consider him to be Australian (like we consider Ange to be Australian rather than Greek.) I think it's because he was born and raised in a non-English speaking country, that he got an English accent which makes us consider him to be English rather than Belgian. Russell Martin was on Monday Night Football and they asked him if he was English or Scottish and he replied British.
It doesn't matter how you/we consider him, its the how the person perceives/feels about it, Ange very much considers himself Greek (and Australian), he even spoke about it at length in the press conference on Tuesday, and by all accounts its the same with Still.
But he had to point out his "Greekness" to the journalist. In this country he's just considered an Aussie called Ange rather than a Greek called Angelos.
Steven Gerrard is the favourite to become the next Rangers manager. But despite rumours he's been in Scotland to seal the deal, he seems to be on the other side of the world. (The Scottish Sun)
Will Still has full agreement to join Southampton as their new manager on a three-year deal at St Mary's. All negotiations completed with #SaintsFC and Lens after talks this week (Mike McGrath)
Eddie Howe once again the standout English manager of the season. Newcastle should've finished 4th and messed it up a bit today but they still claimed 6 more points than last season and won a trophy - all without making any real first team signings last summer or in January. If they're to hit the next level they desperately need some depth as they faded a bit in the last month. All four teams that finished above them (plus Villa) had 2-3 more players with at least 1000 PL minutes this season. They massively struggled to juggle the Champions League and PL last time around and if they don't add some quality depth they'll probably just be a flash in the pan in the Champions League again. Two of their starting back four are also 33 which needs addressing. Big summer ahead for them.
Tottenham assistant manager Ryan Mason is the leading candidate to become West Brom boss. (Talksport) Norwich City have approached Bristol City manager Liam Manning over potentially taking charge at Carrow Road next season. (Telegraph - subscription required), external
Dave King insists Steven Gerrard is the "obvious choice" to become Rangers manager again. (Scottish Sun)
West Brom in talks to appoint Tottenham coach Ryan Mason as new manager. Mason’s contract expires end of June so if WBA want him to start immediately there’ll have to be a formal club-to-club approach - but no delays expected. Deal advanced. https://t.co/cssS8OcWt5— Sami Mokbel (@SamiMokbel_BBC) May 30, 2025
Inter Milan boss Simone Inzaghi has held talks with Spurs and Newcastle. (Talksport), external Is Eddie Howe’s time at Newcastle coming to an end?
Former Arsenal and England midfielder Jack Wilshere, 33, is the frontrunner to become the manager of League One Plymouth Argyle. (Sun)
The club has today parted company with head coach Michael Carrick.Full statement ⤵️— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) June 4, 2025