Wilfried Nancy and doomsday scenario we prayed wouldn’t happen | OneFootball

Where do we even start? Yesterday completed the doomsday scenario we all prayed wouldn’t happen the day Celtic announced Wilfried Nancy as our new manager…

At the time, myself and many others stated it would be wise for Celtic to let Wilfried sit in the stands for two weeks, let Martin O’Neill take charge for the next three matches, then start afresh after that, hopefully top of the league and with a cup already in the trophy cabinet. The board however seen things differently and threw Nancy in days ahead of three of the most important games of the season. It’s proven to be an awful decision.

Once Nancy was announced I said the board were taking a huge gamble with the timing.

It was only going to end two ways. He would either come in, the players would be blown away by the MLS version of Pep Guardiola and we would start firing on all cylinders. Or the more likely scenario that the players would struggle to adapt to his methods having spent little time on the training ground and our season would implode.

Marcus Fraser opens the scoring. Premier Sports Cup Final match between St Mirren and Celtic at Hampden Park on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Vagelis Georgariou, The Celtic Star)

Unfortunately the latter is exactly what has happened. It’s been an unmitigated disaster.

I said at the time that the board were taking a gamble hoping that he would achieve a few decent results in these three big games which would get momentum behind him. It would cajole the best from the players and the fans would all hop on the Nancy bandwagon. It’s very unlike the board, known for their risk adversion, to take such a gamble. It might be their last as it has totally blown up in their faces.

Callum McGregor of Celtic looks dejected after the team’s defeat during the Premier Sports Cup Final match between St Mirren and Celtic at Hampden Park on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Things couldn’t have gone any worse in all honesty.

All three games have followed a similar pattern. There has been small periods where some of the play looks good. Unfortunately we only get a spell of about 30 minutes max playing like this. The other 60 are absolutely baffling.

Callum McGregor of Celtic receives instructions from Wilfried Nancy, Head Coach of Celtic, during the Premier Sports Cup Final match between St Mirren and Celtic at Hampden Park on December 14, 2025.. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

I honestly watch it in utter disbelief, I just can’t get my head around it.

It reminds me of the good old days 20 years ago when me and my friends used to meet up on a Sunday with horrible hangovers from the weekend and play a match on the local schools grounds. Players doing what they wanted. Defenders randomly ending up ahead of the forwards looking a goal because they got bored defending. Wingers trying flicks and tricks and losing the ball constantly to the groans of their teammates.

I watched yesterday as Liam Scales constantly overlapped Tierney down the left. Scales was supposedly playing Centre Back. Then you had Maeda I think playing as a ’10’. Then we had the subs coming on to try and salvage the game. James Forrest, a winger for his whole Celtic career suddenly playing Centre Midfield.

I think McCowan was left back but I’m not sure, I was dizzy by that stage trying to work it all out. If Nancy’s tactics are to try and bamboozle the opposition by playing all his players out of position then he’s doing a good job.

Peter Lawwell, Chairman of Celtic has a drink during the Premier Sports Cup Final match between St Mirren and Celtic at Hampden Park on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Unfortunately the results show it’s not working.

I also find it increasingly difficult to watch his interviews. It’s like he can’t stop himself from saying things that I just know is going to have a lot of our fans foaming at the mouth. Someone needs to have an intervention with him and tell him that at Celtic you can’t say things like winning trophies aren’t important or that the results don’t matter.

I know he means if the performance is right then these things will come but by saying these things he’s making a rod for his own back. It makes him sound like he’s completely oblivious to the job he has taken on.

Jonah Ayunga of St. Mirren scores his team’s second goal whilst under pressure from Kasper Schmeichel of Celtic during the Premier Sports Cup Final match between St Mirren and Celtic at Hampden Park on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Results and winning trophies are literally the most important thing at Celtic.

I despair when I see him calling Callum McGregor over. He’s stood there explaining things to one of the most intelligent footballers we have had at this club, who still looks confused. That says it all really. He’s went all in on implementing his style straight away. Can he not see that these past two weeks were neither the time or the place to try and redefine how a team plays?

The timing of his appointment has absolutely killed any chance he had at Celtic. I honestly think if he had arrived and had a full pre-season with the players then he might have had a chance. But arriving in the midst of the busiest period of the season and tearing up the script and starting from scratch? It was never going to work.

Liam Scales of Celtic during the Premier Sports Cup Final match between St Mirren and Celtic at Hampden Park on December 14, 2025. (Photo by Vagelis Georgariou, The Celtic Star)

I was someone who wanted the Nancy experiment to work.

I thought it was a bold move by Celtic to bring in someone who has gradually been making his way up in football management, impressing at each club and more importantly winning silverware along the way. It looked like it could be exciting, a modern manager who has a style of play that’s pleasing on the eye.

Someone who brings something different to the table, maybe someone we are getting at the right time, before he’s snapped up by some other top club in Europe and then becomes out of our reach. Unfortunately it’s already starting to look like it was a gamble that won’t pay off. It’s hard to see how things are going to improve from here.

Conall McGinty

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