Turning on Nancy plays into hands of those with anti-Celtic agendas

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The Celtic Star

·8 December 2025

Turning on Nancy plays into hands of those with anti-Celtic agendas

As Celtic fell to another defeat to Hearts this season, letting slip our chance of going top of the league, it seems like many of our fans have the knives out for our new manager Wilfried Nancy already…

Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy arrives prior to the Premier League match between Celtic and Heart of Midlothian at Celtic Park on December 07, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

It’s almost unbelievable to be writing that but unfortunately it’s true, after just a few days in charge some folk are already predicting Nancy’s tenure at Celtic will be a complete failure. Personally I’m hurt by yesterday’s result but I’m in absolutely no mood to completely write off our manager after just one match.

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After the Feyenoord game I wrote an article stating I believed the best option for Celtic would be to get Nancy signed up, let him sit in the stands for the next few games and let Martin O’Neill and his backroom team take on Hearts, Roma and St Mirren.

It would have been a risk free move by Celtic

It would have been a risk free move by the club. No one would have moaned if results weren’t what we wanted. Martin had earned the chance to lead Celtic until at least after the Premier Sports Cup final on Sunday. We would have been gutted if results hadn’t gone our way but we wouldn’t have blamed Martin.

3rd December 2025 Celtic Park, Scottish Premiership , Celtic versus Dundee. Celtic interim manager Martin O’Neill waves to the crowd at the end of his last match in charge Photo IMAGO David Young

I wrote in my last article that appointing Nancy now was a bold move by Celtic. It was risky but at the same time I could understand their thinking. Throw Nancy in at the deep end and if results go his way he will be off to a flyer, with the Celtic fans firmly behind him.

Nancy is in the unenviable position of being under pressure already

Their gamble however has failed spectacularly and has landed Nancy in the unenviable position of being under pressure after just one game at the helm. Would yesterday have gone differently with O’Neill still in charge? We’ll never know, what I do know is that the defeat to Hearts has been a setback for Wilfried Nancy.

Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy arrives prior to the Premier League match between Celtic and Hearts at Celtic Park on December 07, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

It was genuinely one of those days that everything seemed to go wrong. We were totally dominant during the opening 30 minutes, it just felt like a matter of time until we opened the scoring. But we didn’t have that killer instinct in the final third. We looked lively but couldn’t find a goal. Then Hearts hit us with a sucker punch, an awful goal to give away where the Celtic players failed to play to the whistle as they thought there was an offside. The players switched off and got punished.

The second goal after half time was a poor goal to concede

The second goal after half time was another poor goal to concede. Weak defensively from a corner, a problem we have had for years now, and suddenly we are two goals down. We never really looked like pegging them back after that. So was that result all on Nancy? I don’t believe so. Did his formation change of going three at the back cost us the goals? No, the first was due to players switching off and the second was yet another goal lost at a set piece.

Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy arrives prior to the Premier League match between Celtic and Heart of Midlothian at Celtic Park on December 07, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

It seems the biggest problem some of our fans have with Nancy is his tactics board. The Sky Sports camera couldn’t wait to zoom in on that. Had we been winning we would probably never had seen it. This is where we need to be careful. The media will love this. Other fans, especially fans of theRangers will love this, all those with anti Celtic tendencies in Scotland will love this.

They will use this to belittle Nancy and make him look out of his depth

They will use this to belittle Nancy and make him look out of his depth. So what if he uses a tactics board? Other managers will use an iPad, a pen and paper or simply tell the players what tactics changes they want implemented. How dare he do something different than what a load of unsuccessful managers in Scotland do.

Kieran Tierney and Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy are seen during the Premier League match between Celtic and Heart of Midlothian at Celtic Park on December 07, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

There is absolutely no doubt that it’s going to take time for players to get used to the new managers style and instructions. Surely we all knew this? The same was true when Ange took over.

Nancy’s been dropped in during one of the busiest periods of the season

The problem Nancy has is that he’s been dropped in during one of the busiest periods of the season. Three games a week every week. Very little time on the training ground to implement his vision. Many will say he should have stuck to the same tactics Martin O’Neill was utilising. He’s his own man however who has been using a style that has worked extremely well for him over the past few years so obviously he’s going to try and start to implement that as soon as possible.

Oisin McEntee of Heats ( not seen) scores his team’s second goal during the Premier League match between Celtic and Heart of Midlothian at Celtic Park on December 07, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

We are a side who is nowhere near full strength at the moment. We have multiple injuries to important players and the team is in serious need of investment come January. Martin O’Neill has produced miracles to guide us through the last five weeks and achieve the results he did. Bar the Feyenoord game however we haven’t looked much better than we did on Sunday. Can you honestly say we looked much better against St Mirren, Hibs or Dundee in our last three matches than we did today?

Had we scored early the outcome would have been very different

Yes, we ground out the results but the football has been poor, and yes I agree that winning is all that matters but as I said at the start, had we scored early when we were dominating, the outcome would have been so very different.

I hope and pray the vast majority of Celtic fans continue to give their full backing to our new manager. What good is turning on him now going to do? That negativity will effect what happens on the pitch. If we want to get through this season successfully we need to back Nancy 100%. There is no other option.

Callum McGregor and new Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy are seen during the Premier League match between Celtic and Heart of Midlothian at Celtic Park on December 07, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Turning on Nancy plays into the hands of those with an anti-Celtic agenda

He’s here for the foreseeable so how about we get behind him, give him time to implement his style and see how it works out? Turning on him so early is playing into the hands of everyone with an anti-Celtic agenda, and there is plenty of them as we all know too well. Do not let them twist the narrative around Nancy. That’s exactly what they intend to do.

Back the team.

Back the manager.

Keep the faith.

Conall McGinty

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