Ex-Brighton & Luton Town figure set to join Will Still at Southampton FC | OneFootball

Will Still looks set looks set to add an experienced figure to his coaching staff at Southampton.

Former Brighton & Hove Albion and Luton Town assistant manager Paul Trollope is in talks over joining Will Still's coaching staff at Southampton.

The 53-year-old enjoyed a long playing career with numerous clubs across various levels of English football, before heading into coaching in the mid-2000s.

He also won nine caps for Wales during his career, which saw the midfielder start out at his hometown side Swindon Town, before moving onto teams such as Derby County, Crystal Palace, Fulham and Coventry City respectively.

Paul Trollope set to join Will Still's Southampton coaching staff

As revealed by journalist Pete O'Rourke via his X account on Wednesday, Southampton are in talks with Paul Trollope over joining Will Still's coaching team at St Mary's.

Trollope was named as joint-assistant manager alongside Richie Kyle to Rob Edwards at Luton Town in November 2022, a role in which he currently remains in at Kenilworth Road.

Joining the Hatters saw Trollope reunite with his former Wales teammate Edwards, and he would leave just days after his sacking as Luton boss in early January of this year.

Prior to his spell with Luton, the 53-year-old also spent time with Chris Hughton at Nottingham Forest between October 2020-September 2021, whilst also spending 120 games as Hughton's assistant at Brighton & Hove Albion before that too.

Trollope should provide Will Still with plenty of experience and wisdom to tap into at Southampton

However, it's not just experience as an assistant manager that Trollope would bring to Southampton.

That's because he's also racked up a significant amount of experience as being a first-team manager on a full-time basis too, albeit the majority of said experience in that role came at the start of his coaching career.

Indeed, he spent just over five years in charge of Bristol Rovers, where he would guide them to a League Two play-off final win over Shrewsbury Town in 2007.

He would guide the Gas to a mid-table finish in League One the following year, and would also take the club on a memorable journey to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 2008, which was the first time in 50 years the club had reached that stage of the competition.

After being sacked by Rovers in 2010, Trollope would eventually take up another full-time managerial role with Cardiff City in May 2016.

However, his Bluebirds tenureship wouldn't last long, as he was sacked after just 12 games in charge, during which his side lost eight times.

So, despite that Cardiff City spell not being as successful as his Bristol Rovers career, Trollope would be able to provide Still with a highly experienced and knowledgeable source of information and advice to tap into should he be appointed at Southampton.

He's been around the game for a long time, and has been part of some successful eras at both Brighton and Luton Town respectively, where he won promotion to the Premier League in his role as assistant manager at both clubs.