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Think Inter Miami are the most entertaining team in MLS? Think again
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Since taking over as manager at Columbus Crew, Wilfried Nancy has forged an explosive team who score plenty of goals
Graham Ruthven
Tue 26 Sep 2023 10.00 BST
Lionel Messi has made Inter Miami a must-watch team since his arrival in Major League Soccer two months ago, but that doesn’t mean they are necessarily the league’s most entertaining team. Instead, the Columbus Crew deserve that title. Their brand of attack-minded, possession soccer has compelled and captivated all season long. Inter Miami have Messi, but Columbus have Wilfried Nancy.
The Frenchman has earned himself a reputation as one of MLS’s most forward-thinking coaches. Hired by Columbus from CF Montreal at the end of last season, the 46-year-old knows hold to build bold, brave teams. He wants his side to have the ball, but not just for the sake of it. This is possession with a purpose – the purpose being to score goals.
Nobody has scored more in MLS this season than the Columbus Crew (61). They have scored three or more in three of their last four games. Even when the Crew lose, they put on a show – see the recent seven-goal thriller against Orlando City which was decided by a winner six minutes into stoppage time. Everything is geared towards putting the ball in the net.
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Of course, Columbus knew what they were getting in Nancy. His CF Montreal team played the same way last season. This was sometimes to their detriment defensively, but the Canadians enjoyed their best-ever MLS season in 2022, finishing second in the Eastern Conference. Having worked as Thierry Henry’s assistant at Montreal before taking charge, Nancy was able to mould a team in his own image.
Few thought he’d be able to do the same thing in Columbus so quickly. Nancy was given something of a headstart because his predecessor, Caleb Porter, also favoured a possession-orientated game, but the Crew finished 2022 outside the playoff places having also missed out in 2021. A reset was clearly needed.
Columbus’ improvement – they sit third in the Eastern Conference – can be measured by several metrics. Their average share of possession (57.2%) is higher than any other team this season whereas they ranked only ninth under Porter in 2022. They are also top for short passes (attempted and completed) having only been fifth before Nancy’s appointment. Only Atlanta United come to close to matching Columbus for their attacking output.
Columbus pass the eye test too. They are thrilling to watch. The Crew aren’t necessarily the fastest team in terms of their tempo over 90 minutes, but few can match them for explosiveness with players often instructed to slow the game down to walking-pace before launching forward into space. Nancy knows the value of waiting for the right moment to attack.
This approach has got the best out of former Watford forward Cucho Hernández (only four players – Giorgos Giakoumakis, Hany Mukhtar, Lucho Acosta and Denis Bouanga – have scored more goals in MLS than Hernandez this season). The Colombian, who scored the second-fastest hat-trick from kickoff in MLS history during a recent win over the Chicago Fire, needs space to attack into and Nancy’s approach has given him plenty of that.
Even when former MLS Cup MVP Lucas Zelarayan left for Saudi Arabia in July, Columbus responded by signing Diego Rossi to perform the same role – Nancy needs attackers to drop deep between the lines to receive and drive at opposition defenders. Rossi may be an even better fit for the Crew given his pressing ability. There’s a clarity to the Crew’s thinking on and off the field at the moment.
“For me it’s all about concepts,” Nancy told the Athletic in April. “It’s all about trying to simplify as often as we can what we want to do on the pitch and also to give them the ownership to express themselves. Yes, there is a clear structure. But within that structure there is also freedom. It’s all about knowing the person behind the players, which helps us know how to better connect with them.”
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Nancy is indeed a conceptual thinker. His teams do unusual things that convention might prevent another manager from attempting, but the 46-year-old doesn’t care much for convention. The Crew have been known to line-up for kickoff like an NFL team with all 10 outfield players close to the halfway line ready for the opposition to take centre. Nancy has also played without a conventional centre back in his back three at times this season. More often than not, his experiments pay off.
The success or failure of the Columbus Crew’s season will ultimately be determined by the impact they make in the playoffs. For all their eye-catching play in 2022, Nancy’s CF Montreal only made it as far as the conference semi-finals last season. Playoff soccer requires a different mindset and Nancy has still to prove his trademark approach can work in the post-season.
At Columbus, though, Nancy has a platform to achieve more. The Crew have adapted to his ideas and methods in just one season. Messi might be MLS’s new star attraction, drawing new fans to the league, but no team has won more points in MLS than Columbus since the Argentinian’s arrival. Even if 2023 is the year of Messi, it could finish as the Crew’s season.
———
The Cynic @90minutecynic.bsky.social
2025
Wilfried Nancy
We looked at the man who transformed Columbus Crew and what you can expect if he becomes the new Celtic manager.
1/9 – Here’s a thread on “NancyBall”
These thoughts on the man from Le Havre are from our recent Manager Search Podcast –
If you like coaches who:
▪️Invite pressure
▪️Manipulate opponents
▪️Bait the press
▪️Slash through lines
Wilfried Nancy coaches like he’s playing chess.
Slow–slow–slow… BOOM.
“NancyBall” is built on key philosophies:
▪️Control the game by controlling time.
▪️Slow the game down, wait, manipulate, draw pressure and then explode forward.
▪️Wait for defenders to commit, then punish their movement.
▪️He teaches the art of manipulating defenders.
His teams don’t rush:
▪️They invite the press which brings with it risk.
▪️He wants the opponent to commit first, so his side can slice through them with line breaking passes and third man runs.
Alistair Johnston said Nancy taught him to “wait until the striker steps on your toe before passing”
Most coaches want their teams to play quicker but Nancy wants his team to play smarter.
Tactically he sets up in a 3-4-3 because it allows his team to:
▪️Create Overloads
▪️Clarity in buildup
▪️The “free man”
▪️Staggered passing lines
▪️Controlled chaos when needed
Taking on low blocks:
▪️Collapsing players around the ball
▪️Using tight rotations
▪️Picking the right moment to break
▪️Timing is key
Off the pitch:
▪️Huge charisma.
▪️Players rave about his communication and clarity.
▪️The connection with fans is a huge part of his success.
▪️“Impossible is an option.”
His tactical identity is built on bravery and it goes against the grain of modern transition-obsessed football.
“NancyBall” can be summed up as:
▪️Deliberate
▪️Intelligent
▪️Creative
▪️Risky
And box-office for anyone who loves possession football with personality.
The system and philosophy isn’t static. It’s not like players are frozen in place
———-
Celtic’s Ambition Dies with Wilfried Nancy Appointment
https://www.andymuirhead.com/p/celtics-ambition-dies-with-wilfried
Nancy’s potential appointment is driven by control, not ambition, and signals a worrying shift at Celtic. As Desmond and Lawwell’s influence could reduce Celtic’s next manager to a puppet.
Andy Muirhead
Nov 12, 2025
Wilfried Nancy’s name being linked so strongly with the Celtic managerial vacancy has stirred both intrigue and alarm among supporters and commentators. While Nancy’s rise to prominence with CF Montréal and Columbus Crew in Major League Soccer (MLS) is impressive at that level, there remain profound reasons why his appointment would signify a disturbing direction for Celtic Football Club. At a time when Celtic need more than just hope or potential, the club requires proven experience – especially familiarity with British football’s grit and the nuances of European competition. Hiring Nancy risks cementing a dangerous trend away from true ambition and towards an era of managerial appointments designed to keep the ship steady and the captain in line rather than steer it to glory.
Nancy’s MLS success is real and deservedly acknowledged. Winning the MLS Cup, capturing the Leagues Cup, and securing individual accolades like MLS Coach of the Year show his ability to lead teams to victory in a growing league. However, the magnitude of managing Celtic extends far beyond what MLS demands. Celtic, with its rich history, passionate fanbase, and unrelenting expectations, is among Europe’s fervent footballing institutions. Struggles in the Scottish Premiership or early European exits are often met with unforgiving criticism by media and supporters alike. The intensity of Celtic – the cultural, tactical, and psychological pressure cooker – is uniquely demanding and requires someone seasoned in these battles.
Nancy, despite his tactical innovations and bold style in MLS, is essentially an untested “project manager” in this context. His candidacy carries uncomfortable implications. At a time when Celtic’s hierarchy should pursue a manager with a firm grasp of British and European football knowledge, aligning with Nancy hints at abandoning ambition in favour of financial prudence. It suggests the club is settling not for a visionary leader but for a coach who will be grateful simply to hold the post – a manager who will be kept in line, not challenging the status quo.
Such an appointment reeks of tricks for treats at the feet of influential club figures like Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell. Nancy, eager for a high-profile role, might be seen as a malleable choice, someone unlikely to rock the boat or question key power structures within the club. This dynamic – a hierarchy preferring a compliant manager rather than a commanding leader – is dangerous for any club whose fan base demands to dominance domestically and to have ambition in Europe beyond qualification to the group stages. Celtic are already a club run by financiers and executives with what seems as little interest in having ambition on the pitch and more towards their bank balance.
The narrative becomes all the more concerning with Nancy’s connections at Celtic, specifically his reported ties to Paul Tisdale. Far from symbolising a meritocratic rise, this casts Nancy as a beneficiary of nepotism – a managerial choice influenced more by personal connections than by a track record of relevant success. This is reminiscent, in a worrying way, of Ronny Deila’s appointment. Deila’s time at Celtic is often recalled as a cautionary tale: a well-meaning but ultimately flawed choice who lacked the tactical depth required for success at a club with Celtic’s demands. An appointment perceived as nepotistic or political would only reinforce fears of history repeating itself under a new guise – and further widening the divide between the club’s hierarchy and the ever increasing unrest from the fans.
Tactically, Nancy’s approach in MLS has leaned heavily on a 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 formation that emphasises possession, wing-backs, and high pressing. While attractive on paper and in a league with different opposition styles, it lacks the flexibility needed for the harsh realities of Scottish football. Scottish teams deploy a range of highly physical, defensively compact, and tactically disruptive styles designed to neutralise possession-heavy opponents – as we have found out after several years of lethargic and tippy tappy pish under Brendan Rodgers. Celtic’s manager must constantly adapt tactics mid-game and develop multiple game plans for very different challenges week-to-week – competencies Nancy has yet to be tested on and what Rodgers never did. Questionable tactical rigidity and defensive fragility noted at Columbus Crew highlight his potential vulnerabilities where Celtic cannot afford error.
Moreover, Celtic’s player management demands someone equipped with deep experience to navigate a squad featuring seasoned internationals with big personalities and expectations. Managing such a dressing room requires political acumen, experience in British football culture, and an authoritative touch. An inexperienced manager unfamiliar with this environment risks losing the dressing room’s confidence and destabilising the squad during a critical rebuilding phase half way through the season.
The idea that Celtic’s hierarchy might usher in Nancy as a low-risk choice rather than a bold, ambitious leader like Knutsen sends a damaging message to fans and players. It signals a retreat from genuine competitive aspiration and a willingness to trade fire and passion for complacency and control. This is a huge decline for a club of Celtic’s stature – fans expect a re-energised club equipped to dominate domestically with strength and compete with the best on the contintent.
Ultimately, Celtic’s path back to success lies with a manager grounded in British football’s competitive fabric, versed in the physical and tactical challenges of the Premiership, and battle-tested in European tournaments. Such a manager brings much-needed knowledge, gravitas, and tactical diversity. Celtic should be looking for more than “potential” or “connections” on a coaching CV – they need proven winners with a record of handling football’s highest pressures.
Wilfried Nancy’s candidacy, does not match the urgency or scale of Celtic’s quest for rebirth. His appointment would represent a surrender of ambition to a risk-averse, hierarchy-controlled construct prioritising stability over progress. Fans deserve a club that dreams big and hires managers who embody that vision, not one settling for a “safe” gamble driven by nepotism or political calculation.
In choosing Nancy, the Celtic board would risk repeating past managerial mistakes, undermining hopes for a swift return to dominance domestically and further dimming the once bright Celtic flame on the European stage. This is a moment for decisive leadership and ambition, not for project management or compliant appointments. The club’s biggest challenge is to recognise this and appoint a manager capable of turning aspiration into achievement, not coddled complacency.
To settle for Wilfried Nancy under these circumstances would be an abandonment of Celtic’s rich heritage and future promise. It is a missed opportunity to appoint a genuinely experienced, battle-hardened leader ready to command the pressures and deliver the success fans demand. Celtic’s next manager should be a rallying figure, a tactician and leader capable of reuniting Parkhead behind a shared vision of greatness. Anything less risks institutionalising mediocrity and resignation – an unacceptable outcome for a club and fanbase that deserve so much more.
What is your thoughts on the potential appointment of Wilfried Nancy as the new Celtic head coach?
Subscribe to Andy Muirhead | Scottish Football Blogger | Celtic FC Blog
Intriguing piece. Like you, i hate the cronyism and one of the biggest issues with the board is that there appears to be no clear idea of who is responsible for what and accountability. However, if we take Ange out as he approached celtic, then the last appointments by the board have been: rodgers, lennon, rodgers, deila, lennon. So im not sure Nancy would be a lurch down so much as a retention of the status quo if he is as you describe. And you mention wanting someone established, but sadly i think those days are behind celtic. we cant/wont pay the compensation. We need to be one step ahead in finding an up and coming (apologies awful phrase) manager who has a track record in improving players as a coach, intellectual flexibility on strategy, has a firm idea on scouting, and can inspire. that is a lot to ask. in many ways Deila was the closest we have had to that as he was clearly a good coach. lest we forget he brought mcgregor, tierney, ajer etc through and had zero budget. but he wasnt a manager and couldnt inspire the way a MoN does. I sense the right appointment for the football club will be an unpopular initial announcement. Im just not sure we are thorough enough in our search or have the courage to go there. This is a massive decision because of the previous mediocrity appointed.
‘Mad scientist’ & ‘next Luis Enrique’ – who is Celtic-linked Wilfried Nancy?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cdegj67p1z2o
Wilfried Nancy, head coach at Columbus CrewImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Wilfried Nancy is one of the names to be strongly linked with Celtic
ByKheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter
Published
12 November 2025
Updated 14 November 2025
As speculation mounts about Celtic’s next permanent manager, one name featuring prominently is Wilfried Nancy of Columbus Crew.
So, how did the relatively young, relatively unheralded Frenchman come to such prominence in the conversation around who will ultimately replace Brendan Rodgers?
BBC Scotland has been taking a look, with the help of the former United States striker Herculez Gomez, who has followed Nancy’s rise for broadcaster ESPN in their coverage of Major League Soccer.
‘Meteoric rise’ for first black manager to win MLS title
One of the first things to impress onlookers, apart from Nancy’s style of football, is the speed of his rise to prominence.
The 48-year-old landed his first managerial job in 2021, taking over from his friend and former boss Thierry Henry at CF Montreal. Not bad for a man who, just a few short years earlier, was coaching under-14 girls.
It appears Nancy is no stranger to a steep learning curve, as Gomez explains. “He has an idea of how he wants to play, it’s very brave, it’s very nuanced,” said the American.
“It’s very New Age, modern football, if you will, but in a crazy, mad scientist way. That’s who he’s been from day one, and it’s really gone well. I say meteoric rise because 2021 is when he got his first professional stint as a manager, and since then, he’s collected a few titles. Canadian Championship, MLS Leagues Cup, MLS Cup.”
Born in Le Havre in 1977 to a father from Guadeloupe and a mother from West Africa, Nancy is already something of a trailblazer.
“He was the first black head coach in the history of Major League Soccer to win a title,” Gomez explained.
“They’d never had a black coach lift the MLS Cup, and he did it with a certain type of brand, and I guess the best way to describe him is he’s brave in his football.
“Speak to his players and they’ll say the result is secondary. Secondary because he wants to implement the brand first, and the rest follows.”
‘No surprise’ he’s on Celtic’s radar
Three things will have attracted Celtic’s interest. Nancy is a proven winner, his teams play fast, attacking football and he already has a loose connection to the club since his assistant at Columbus Crew, Kwame Ampadu, worked with the Parkhead club’s director of football operations, Paul Tisdale, at Exeter City.
Nancy could also be available straight away, as the Crew’s season is over and Gomez isn’t in the least bit surprised to see him linked to a big European club.
“He’s had a few suitors chasing him over the years, in the English game pyramid and in France,” he said. “Celtic is a massive club, a massive brand. Nowhere that he’s been, Montreal or Columbus, has he had the wallet that he would have at Celtic.
“So, to pick and choose the elements you want may be beneficial to him, may suit his brand, but it’s a culture shock. It’s definitely a shock the way he wants to play.
“The first time I saw his team, I was a bit amused. The goalkeeper has to play high off his line, be good with his feet. The centre-backs have to be very good with the ball, often find themselves in advanced positions.
“The wing-backs are very much like we saw in the Xabi Alonso Leverkusen years, where they’re going to be prime attackers, and maybe goal scorers and facilitators.
“There’s a lot of creativity, free flow. I’m not surprised that a team like Celtic is looking at him. If it’s not Celtic, it’ll be another team, that’s for sure.”
Comparisons with Champions League winner
After dropping in the name of Real Madrid boss Alonso, whose superb Bayer Leverkusen side became the first side to win the Bundesliga undefeated, Gomez isn’t afraid to compare Nancy to another great of the current European coaching fraternity, Champions League-winning Paris St-Germain head coach Luis Enrique.
“Everybody’s looking for the next big thing,” he explained.
“If I could get somewhere close to his brand, it would be Luis Enrique’s PSG. Enrique bases his philosophy off the interpretation of space, time and movement. There are no set positions.
“‘Relacionismo’, they say in Spanish. It’s how you relate to a certain sector on the field and how you can advance and really consume your opponent in numbers. That’s Wilfried Nancy.
“And there’s a reason he’s garnering attention. It’s because his brand is so pleasing to the eye. It’s catchy. It can also be a Catch-22 every once in a while, because you’re playing on the edge. It’s a double-sided sword, but certainly he’s been on the better side of that sword.
“I see a lot of traits that could make him successful on a bigger stage, with more money, with more attention. He was MLS coach of the year last year but he didn’t need the title to be regarded as one of the best. He’s immensely respected.
“Certainly the philosophy of, ‘this is who we are, this is how we’re going to play, and we’re not straying from it’ is very much Luis Enrique.”
Instant impact
One thing that could be music to the ears of the Celtic board and supporters is that Nancy, in Gomez’s opinion, is comfortable with expectations of quick success. In other words, Nancy doesn’t hang around when it comes to culture change.
“He makes things work relatively fast,” Gomez said. “That’s worth noting. Oftentimes, it takes coaches some time to implement an identity, a style.
“He’s hit the ground running in two different places, whether it’s Montreal, a team of lower resources, or Columbus Crew, a team that has been known to let go of the purse strings every once in a while and bring in some good talent.
“He’s done well in different settings, so it’s worth noting that when you get Wilfried Nancy, you get somebody who’s used to making things happen fairly quickly.”
Martin O’Neill gives next Celtic manager strong advice amid disunity at club
Mark Atkinson
By Mark Atkinson
Sports Editor
Published 25th Nov 2025, 22:30 GMT
Keep Watching
Celtic AGM
Interim boss believes ‘fresh start’ awaits Rodgers’ successor
Martin O’Neill has told the next Celtic manager not to get bogged down in the civil war between some of the club’s fans and the hierarchy, insisting that they can see it as a “fresh start”.
Interim boss O’Neill watched on from the top table at Friday’s stormy Celtic annual general meeting as shareholders booed chairman Peter Lawwell and directors amid chants of “sack the board” and red cards directed at them from the floor.
Lawwell was forced to adjourn and then abandon proceedings after members of the crowd took umbrage at a speech from Ross Desmond – delivered on behalf of his father and major shareholder Dermot Desmond – where he labelled some Celtic supporters “bullies” for their recent behaviour and conduct.
O’Neill called the whole affair “a sad day” – but believes that whoever comes in to replace Brendan Rodgers on a permanent basis can wash their hands of the disharmony.
French coach Wilfried Nancy is on the brink of being appointed as Celtic thrash out a compensation package with Columbus Crew for him and his coaching staff. O’Neill is set to be in charge of Thursday’s Europa League clash away at Feyenoord and potentially Sunday’s Premiership game at Hibs before in all probability handing over to Nancy – and had words of wisdom for the next man in charge.
“I think that the new manager coming in, I think that he should divorce himself from all those proceedings,” said O’Neill. “This is a fresh start for him. He hasn’t been party to anything that’s happened in recent times.
“So just let’s say it was me, I’d be saying, ‘yeah, that’s got nothing to do with me’. I have to try and win some football games and then maybe at some stage or another, if we can get a real team together that can go and compete, not just domestically, but obviously in European football. Well, that would be his job.
“He’s got a fresh start. He’s going in to step into something that really has been none of his concern. And that’s the way I would be approaching it. And it’s not like passing the buck. It’s just saying, ‘well, sorry, that’s not my making’. My making now is to put Celtic back in the game.”
‘Sooner unity, the better’
Celtic required a stoppage-time winner against St Mirren last weekend to win 1-0 and O’Neill voiced his displeasure at disunity from the stands. He accepted that the longer the rancour continues, the more it will affect the team. “On a longer term basis, I think you might have a point,” the 73-year-old added. “And the sooner that this unity comes back to Celtic, the better.”
Celtic captain Callum McGregor has been trying to insulate the squad from the off-field drama that is engulfing the club right now.
“It’s probably a little bit easier for the players,” the 32-year-old said. “We live in our own wee bubble anyway in terms of preparing for games. We’re trying to protect that as much as we can, saying to players not to listen too much to the outside noise.
“Of course some of it filters in a little bit. But the only thing we can affect is winning games of football and if we can do that, hopefully that will realign the supporters, the team, the club, everyone moving forward. Because Celtic is a much stronger entity when everyone is pushing in the same direction.”
Nancy takes Celtic job and promises ‘exciting football’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cjd0vx3327ro
ByRichard Winton
BBC Sport Scotland
Published
3 hours ago
Wilfried Nancy has vowed to bring “exciting, attacking, winning football” after being confirmed as the new manager of Celtic on a two-and-a-half-year contract.
The 48-year-old Frenchman will take charge on Thursday – replacing interim boss Martin O’Neill – after his protracted move from Major League Soccer club Columbus Crew was finally confirmed.
His first game in charge will be the top-of-the-table Scottish Premiership meeting with Hearts at Celtic Park on Sunday, followed by the Europa League visit of Roma and the League Cup final with St Mirren the next week.
“I can’t wait to get going and become part of such a brilliant institution,” Nancy said.
“Celtic is one of the world’s proper football clubs, real atmosphere and heart and soul, real high standards and real demands, which I am ready for. I know the history, I know the values of Celtic and I know what is expected of me on this journey.
“I know what Celtic means to so many people and my No. 1 aim will be simple – to give our fans a strong, exciting, attacking, winning football team they can be so proud of.”
Celtic had been searching for a new manager since 27 October when Brendan Rodgers resigned and legendary former manager O’Neill stepped in as caretaker.
The Parkhead club have won every domestic match under O’Neill’s stewardship, moving to within two points of Hearts and reaching the League Cup final.
“I want to thank the great Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney for all they have done in recent weeks with the team,” Nancy added.
“These guys have given so much to the club across so many years and I know our fans, like me, all recognise the brilliant job they have done.
“They have my total respect and my total gratitude. I hope to meet them both very soon and thank them personally.”
Who is Nancy?
After playing spells in his homeland, Nancy moved into coaching in Canada.
Following Thierry Henry’s resignation as head coach in 2021, Nancy took over at Montreal and led them to the Canadian Championship later that year.
A move to Crew followed in 2022 and Nancy led the Ohio side to the MLS Cup in 2023 and the Leagues Cup, a competition between Mexican and United States sides, last year – when he was also named MLS coach of the year.
However, this year they finished seventh in Eastern Conference and 12th overall.
In all, he has overseen 215 games in North America and a move to Celtic would be his first managerial role in Europe.
‘Mad scientist’ & ‘next Luis Enrique’ – who is Nancy?
Graphic
What the Celtic hierarchy said
Chairman Peter Lawwell: “He is a manager with a record which demonstrates the kind of football which we know Celtic supporters love to see.
“I want to express our sincere thanks to Martin, Shaun and our backroom team. They have done such a tremendous job in stabilising the team and restoring a real level of confidence, with some fantastic results domestically and in Europe.”
Chief executive Michael Nicholson: “We have been aware of Wilfried and his quality of work for some time – he was our number one candidate when we began the process and we are delighted that he as agreed to join the club.
“I know he is hugely excited about this opportunity to be part of Celtic’s future. We will give Wilfried every support to face the challenges ahead, with our aim as always being to deliver the success for the club which our supporters deserve.”
Principal shareholder Dermot Desmond: “We believe we have brought a hugely talented manager to the club. He is a man who absolutely understands the demands at Celtic, he is a man of real humility but also someone with his own ideas, his own vision and such a personal drive and desire to do well.
“I will always hold Martin in such high regard for what he has done for Celtic and for what he is as a man – a man of such professionalism and integrity and someone who undoubtedly will always have the best interests of Celtic in his heart.”
Celtic delighted to appoint Wilfried Nancy as new manager
Club News
By Celtic Football Club
Share
03 Dec 2025, 6:52 pm
Celtic Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Wilfried Nancy as its new Football Manager on a two-and-a-half year contract. Wilfried will begin his new role on December 4, 2025.
Wilfried joins Celtic from MLS club, Columbus Crew, where he lifted the MLS Cup and the Leagues Cup, as well as also being named the MLS Coach of the Year in 2024. Prior to that, he also won the Canadian Championship with CF Montreal in 2021.
Looking forward to his new role with real excitement, Wilfried commented: “I am so happy to be named Celtic Manager, it is a massive honour for myself and my family.
“Before I say anything else I want to do one thing – I want to thank the great Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney for all they have done in recent weeks with the team. The job they have done has been fantastic.
“These guys have given so much to the club across so many years and I know our fans, like me, all recognise the brilliant job they have done during this recent period. They have my total respect and my total gratitude. I hope to meet them both very soon and thank them personally.
“Now its up to me to carry on this great work and carry our great club forward and I can’t wait to get going and become part of such a brilliant institution. Celtic is one of the world’s proper football clubs, real atmosphere and heart and soul, real high standards and real demands, which I am ready for.
“I know the history, I know the values of Celtic and I know what is expected of me on this journey. I know what Celtic means to so many people and my No. 1 aim will be simple – to give our fans a strong, exciting, attacking, winning football team they can be so proud of.
“I look forward to seeing all our fans very soon and I hope we can enjoy some great moments together.”
Celtic Chairman Peter Lawwell commented: “We are really pleased to welcome Wilfried to Celtic. He is a Manager with a record which demonstrates the kind of football which we know Celtic supporters love to see. We will give Wilfried all our support as we look to once again bring success to our fans.
“I want to express our sincere thanks to Martin, Shaun and our backroom team for all they have done in recent weeks during this interim period. They have done such a tremendous job in stabilising the team and restoring a real level of confidence, with some fantastic results domestically and in Europe.
“Martin has shown the kind of leadership he was always renowned for and together with Shaun and the others in our backroom team they have given us that level of quality which has been so important to us in recent weeks. Everyone at the club offers our appreciation for the job they have done.”
Celtic Chief Executive Michael Nicholson added: “We have been aware of Wilfried and his quality of work for some time – he was our number one candidate when we began the process of appointing a new Manager and we are delighted that he as agreed to join the club.
“I know he is hugely excited about this opportunity to be part of Celtic’s future. We will give Wilfried every support to face the challenges ahead, with our aim as always being to deliver the success for the club which our supporters deserve, this season and beyond.
“I also want to thank Martin, Shaun, Mark Fotheringham and Stephen McManus for all they have done in recent weeks. They have shown such high levels of professionalism and commitment in supporting the club in a difficult moment and we will forever be grateful to them for the fantastic contributions they have all made.”
Celtic’s principal shareholder Dermot Desmond added: “In appointing Wilfried to Celtic, we believe we have brought a hugely talented Manager to the club. He is a man who absolutely understands the demands at Celtic, he is a man of real humility but also someone with his own ideas, his own vision and such a personal drive and desire to do well for the club and our supporters.
“Everyone at the club will unite strongly behind Wilfried as we move forward and we will ensure we will give him our unswerving support as we strive to achieve our objectives.
“I want to add my heartfelt thanks to Martin for all he has done in recent weeks. He was the man we hoped could bring us through these last few weeks positively and together with Shaun and our other coaches and our players, they have done a wonderful job.
“I will always hold Martin in such high regard for what he has done for Celtic and for what he is as a man – a man of such professionalism and integrity and someone who undoubtedly will always have the best interests of Celtic in his heart.”
Wilfried Nancy’s first interview as Celtic manager
https://www.celticfc.com/news/2025/december/04/wilfried-nancy-s-first-interview-as-celtic-manager/
General
By Celtic Football Club
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04 Dec 2025, 6:00 pm
A new era is now underway at Celtic as Wilfried Nancy arrived at Lennoxtown to get started as the club’s new manager.
The Frenchman was announced as the new manager of the club on Wednesday evening, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal with the Hoops.
Nancy has got to work straight away after arriving in Scotland earlier this morning and heading to the club’s training base.
Meeting up with the players for the first time this afternoon, a new era is well and truly underway at Paradise.
The 48-year-old also sat down with Celtic TV for his first exclusive interview as new boss, introducing himself to the Celtic support.
He said: “I’m excited and really happy to be here. It’s been long, but this is the way it is. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone, the players and the fans.
‘I’m excited to be on the pitch.’
“The way I am as a person, challenge is part of life. So we need a challenge in our life to enjoy it because without challenge, this is boring.
“After that, the idea is to enjoy this moment. To be at this club is amazing.
“I have been following this club for many years. I’ve been a professional player, not for a long time, but I know the club really well and for me, it’s an honour to be here.
“I think the connection, with my background and the story of Celtic, it fits perfectly with the person that I am and what I want to become.”
Having now arrived in Glasgow, it will be a quick turnaround for Nancy, with his work at Celtic already getting started
With the manager now having met each member of his squad, the Bhoys will now be down to work on the training ground ahead of being back in action on Sunday against Hearts.
Nancy insisted his relationship with the players and the fans is an important one as he gave supporters an overview of what they might come to expect from his Celtic side
“It’s about relationships with players,” he said. “We don’t play tennis, we don’t play golf, we need, I call it the non-verbal communication.
“You need to run together to score a goal. We need to run together to defend a goal. So, that is why my job is to create this environment for my players to be able to connect together.
“My style of play is about the way I live, it’s as simple as that. I like to be proactive in my life, I like to discover things, I like also to try things because I believe the more you try things, the more you are going to be able to learn and the more you are going to maximise the chance to have success.
“So, what I want to do on the pitch is the same. So structure, with the way we are going to play. We are going to run together, but at the same time, have creativity within that.
“The idea is the ball. We want to take care of the ball. What does it mean? It means that the ball is the only tool in our life without talking, we can connect people.
‘So, can we use the ball to create emotions. Can we use the ball the score goals. So, that is why I want proactive football.’
“I want the idea to manipulate the opposition to gain speed and to attack the box. This is the idea.
“We are going to have difficult moments, and when we have difficult moments, we have to be strong together and resilient.
“The way you behave when you suffer, you should be able to transmit on the pitch.
“And it’s about trying to entertain people. Everybody wants to win. I don’t know anybody who likes to lose. So, the idea is to maximise that.”
Nancy on priorities, O’Neill discussions & ‘bringing joy’ published at 14:10 GMT 5 December
14:10 GMT 5 December
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/celtic
Charlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland
Wilfried NancyImage source, SNS
New Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy has been speaking to the media for the first time as he prepares to begin his reign against Hearts on Sunday.
Here are the main points:
Nancy is “really proud and excited” to be Celtic manager and knows it’s “a big club with a story behind it”.
On his style, the new manager wants to “play offensive football” but also “put doubt on the opposition, attack the ball as soon as possible and be disgusting to play against”.
He adds he wants to “add a few nuances” to the style of play for now as the team “have already done a good job”.
Nancy spoke to Martin O’Neill about both his spells at Celtic and believes the Northern Irishman brought “the joy of playing” back to the club during his interim tenure. “What a man” were his closing remarks on O’Neill.
The Frenchman is excited about the packed schedule in front of him, adding “if we don’t have challenges, it’s boring” but knows the team have to take it one game at a time.
On the January window, Nancy wants to focus on getting to know the players already at Celtic and says: “I like to take my time… to identify the profile we need”.
Having led his first training session this morning Nancy believes he has a “quality team” with “quality players” but feels “they have to believe in themselves a bit more”.
The former Columbus Crew manager is also a fan of the mix of cultures in his dressing room and feels it is “really important to have players from everywhere”.
While Nancy admits he “would have preferred to have a pre-season”, the Frenchman is focused on “prioritising” amid a busy schedule.
Nancy “knows the demands are high” at Celtic but believes “sometimes you have to lose to get better” and will be focused on “maximising our chance to win” and “finding a way to be consistent”.
While Nancy admits he “cannot control” whether the club win trophies, he can control “what we do on the pitch” and hopes silverware will come by putting in good performances.
The Frenchman stresses his desire to “please the fans” and “bring joy with the way we play,” adding “this is a club with passion, so we want to play with passion”.
Celtic ‘need to believe in themselves more’ – Nancy
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cgmnww0m0nzo
Celtic manager Wilfried NancyImage source, SNS
Image caption,
Wilfried Nancy took charge of Celtic training on Friday morning
Published
5 December 2025
Scottish Premiership: Celtic v Hearts
Venue: Celtic Park, Glasgow Date: Sunday, 7 December Time: 15:00 GMT
Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland & Sounds, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app, highlights on BBC Scotland & iPlayer from 19:15
Wilfried Nancy believes he has inherited a “quality team” at Celtic that needs “to believe a little bit more in themselves”.
The Frenchman, 48, takes charge of the reigning Scottish Premiership champions for the first time against leaders Hearts on Sunday (15:00 GMT).
He takes over immediately from interim boss Martin O’Neill, who oversaw the last of his eight games in charge on Wednesday, and the last permanent manager Brendan Rodgers, who resigned in October.
A win on Sunday would take Celtic three points clear of Hearts and with a game in hand before a Europa League meeting at home to Roma on Thursday.
“I want my players to be confident but I want them also to be humble,” Nancy said.
“My job also is to challenge them for the best of the team.
“[It is a] quality team, quality players but they have to believe a little bit more in themselves. Tactical flexibility – we have players who can play in different positions. For me this is important to have players who I want to play in two positions minimum.
“We play against a style of play, we don’t play against the name of the team. Roma, the way they play is not the same as Hearts. We know what we have in front of us. We know what we want to do.”
Nancy’s whirlwind start at Celtic continues next Sunday with the Premier Sports Cup final against St Mirren and his first meeting with city rivals Rangers is scheduled for 3 January, after four more league games.
The former Columbus Crew and CF Montreal head coach was asked about the January transfer window and hinted there was a “profile that we need”.
“Each organisation, the idea is to improve,” he explained.
“I’m going to have to assess the team. I know them as a team because I’ve watched many games. Now it’s about knowing them as a person. After that we’ll see what is the best for the team.
“I like to take my time. I know that I don’t have a lot of time.
“It’s not a secret. I want to play in a certain way. Proactive, try to put out on the opposition, try to attack the ball as soon as possible and after that also be disgusting to play against when we defend because we’re going to have moments when we’ve got to suffer.”
‘I am a leader, not a boss’ – Celtic’s Nancy
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c5yq51825e2o
Celtic manager Wilfried NancyImage source, SNS
Image caption,
Wilfried Nancy has joined Celtic from MLS side Columbus Crew
Published
4 December 2025
Wilfried Nancy has joined Celtic as “a leader” first and foremost after arriving as manager.
The Frenchman has signed a deal until the summer of 2028 after replacing Brendan Rodgers, who resigned in October. Martin O’Neill took interim charge for eight games.
An “excited” Nancy said “it’s been a bit long” getting into the manager’s chair and he will take charge for the first time at home to Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts on Sunday.
“The brand of Celtic fits me really well,” Nancy told Celtic TV.
“I don’t consider myself as a boss, I am a leader. The definition of leader is to put a good environment to help and to give the possibility, the people that I work with to express themselves.”
Nancy worked with Montreal’s academy, eventually moving up to assistant and then head coach there before becoming Columbus Crew head coach. He won the Canadian Championship with Montreal and the MLS Cup and Leagues Cup with Columbus Crew.
He says long-term assistant Kwame Ampadu will “challenge” and “support” Celtic’s players and added: “He’s wise, for me this is so important.”
And Nancy is “confident” he will be able to get his style across at the reigning champions and suggested he would seek “nuances” rather than big changes.
“My style of play is about the way I live,” he explained. “I like to be proactive in my life, I like to discover things. I like to try things.
“Football is about relations between players. We don’t play tennis, we don’t play golf. We need, I call it non-verbal communication. We need to run together to score goals, we need to run together to defend the goal.
“We want to take care of the ball. I want proactive football. I want the idea to manipulate the opposition to gain speed and attack the box. When we have difficult moments, we have to be strong together and resilient.
“We all want to win. We have to prepare ourselves to be able to find solutions when we’re going to face problems.”
Nancy cited the “joy and confidence of the players” under O’Neill, who returned to the Celtic dugout after 20 years.
“I just met Martin,” Nancy said. “I didn’t know him, obviously, personally. I knew him as a coach and what guy, simple as that, what a guy – humble, genuine and also we had a really good discussion, I wanted to ask him advice on certain things and we shared some stuff.”
‘When I don’t win’ – Wilfried Nancy makes Celtic priorities clear as player lifts lid on tactics board secret
Chief Football Writer
Published 10th Dec 2025, 22:44 GMT
Keep Watching
The Scotsman Football Show – Celtic 1-2 Hearts reaction
Nancy evoking spirit of Scottish football’s ultra perfectionist
What is it about Old Firm managers and their mothers? As soon as things go slightly awry and the brickbats start to fly, the maternal instinct kicks in and concerned calls are put through to Glasgow.
It happened earlier this season with Russell Martin. The then Rangers manager volunteered the information prior to a Champions League qualifying clash against Club Brugge that his mum had been so concerned by his appearance that she had phoned him up to check on his welfare. Everything’s fine, Martin had reassured her. I am enjoying it! Eight short weeks later he was sacked. A mother knows best.
Now Wilfried Nancy is telling everyone that his mum had noticed the bags already forming under his eyes after a stressful start to life at Celtic Park. Later he confided to journalists that “she thinks I can’t take care of myself”. Au contraire, one might respond, having heard the Frenchman’s spirited defence of his methods.
Here’s a message to Ryan Stevenson, Kris Boyd and all those already taking pot shots at the 48-year-old because he happens to use a tactics board on occasion and has chosen to wear green trainers: he’s not listening and even if he was, he doesn’t care what anyone says.
Nancy seems very much capable of looking after himself. And as for those who interpret his recent comments about caring more about performance than winning and losing as proving that, like Martin, he’s not cut out for the Old Firm hothouse, he can point to those same bags beneath his eyes that caught his mother’s attention. “Listen, I want to win,” he said. “When I don’t win I am awake in my bed looking at the ceiling. I have a pain in my belly. I don’t want to eat.”
He mentioned his two children. “My daughter is 14-years-old and my son is eight,” he said. “I like to play golf and two years ago I got the nets and the grass carpet for the garden, I wanted to help them to do it.” His wife wasn’t happy. She told him: ‘you should only do your job outside of the house!’ His kids initially resisted his efforts to coach them.
“They said, no, let us figure it out!” he recalled. “And after that, both of them cried because they couldn’t win. In soccer in the United States, football here, it was the same. When we played cards it was the same thing. I wanted to win. As a human being it’s totally normal that we want to win. So understand me well, I want to win.”
But, he stressed, it’s not just about winning for the sake of winning. Evoking the spirit of ultra perfectionist former Dundee United manager Jim McLean, Nancy claimed that if a team of his wins 5-0 and he doesn’t like the manner in which they did so, he will tell them.
Nancy was speaking at a table in the No. 7 suite inside the Lisbon Lions Stand ahead of his maiden European outing against AS Roma. Internazionale, Milan and Juventus have all come up against Celtic several times, as have Lazio. But the latter’s city rivals are facing the Parkhead side competitively for the first time, just as they did Rangers a few weeks ago.
Everything about it screams a big match, but then that was the case on Sunday, when Celtic hosted Hearts and came up short in Nancy’s first match in charge. The pressure is unrelenting and that’s before even considering a League Cup final against St Mirren on Sunday, when Wilfried can either stick one in the eye of his critics by collecting a first honour or else will be pilloried afresh.
The Roma assignment is perhaps different in that it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if the team currently lying fourth in Serie A (though only 15th in the Europa League standings) leave Parkhead with a win. But it would still represent an unwelcome statistic for any new manager, never mind one at Celtic: not just two successive defeats but, almost unthinkably, two successive home defeats.
That would not, nevertheless, be reason to write off Nancy’s prospects of being a success at Celtic. After all, Brendan Rodgers, first time around, suffered defeat by Gibraltar amateurs Lincoln Red Imps in his opening match and Ange Postecoglou lost his first three away appointments in the league. It can happen. Nancy has been ill-served not so much by the fixture list, which has been set for some time, but by the board, who installed him in such unfair circumstances: days before a tricky top of the table clash v Hearts and after Celtic had built up a head of steam under interim manager Martin O’Neill.
That being so, Nancy was not forced to make significant changes to the formation having only been in the building a short time. But it’s not as if the players looked completely foxed by 3-4-3. Two of the back three who played that afternoon against Hearts have now spoken. Kieran Tierney, who was deployed at left centre-half, had his say directly afterwards and now Auston Trusty, who played on the right, has given his view. Both have stressed how at ease they are in the system.
Trusty excelled while playing anywhere in a back three at Colorado Rapids, earlier in the his career. “I’ve actually had a lot of success (with it),” he said. “Playing in a back three got me a move to Arsenal, got me Player of the Year at Birmingham and then it actually got me a move here, and the chance to play in the Champions League. So I’m really comfortable with a back three.”
As for the ridiculous stooshie over the tactics board, Trusty says he can let you into a secret. Such aids are commonplace in football. “We have big iPads, we have TV screens, we have boards, all behind the scenes that people don’t see,” he said. “Even on the bench, they have iPads, with the tactics on it, but that was just a physical board. It’s nothing new, nothing crazy, that’s just how the game is.”
‘Questions pile up at Celtic, but only some are for Nancy’
03:38
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c0q593vnqldo
Highlights: Dundee United 2-1 Celtic
By
Tom English
BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer
Published
18 December 2025
At this point, it’s not just Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic team that’s a hard watch, it’s Nancy himself.
So many explanations and justifications, so many verbal contortions as he attempts to talk through his latest defeat. It’s become painful, quickly.
“I think I am in a good direction with the players,” he said after his fourth defeat in a row in his new job, a 2-1 loss at struggling Dundee United.
“Today you saw we had a good performance,” he stated. “We are improving,” he insisted. “We were close to winning… keep the faith.”
All around him now there are football atheists. There really can’t be many believers left. As Nancy spoke, it was hard to avoid wincing and wincing and wincing again.
As he made his way through his post-match assessment, the temptation was to shout, ‘Stop… stop talking… stop explaining because when you’re explaining, you’re losing, again’.
The bottom line in all of this is that between his nightmarish beginning with Celtic and his low-key ending with Columbus Crew, Nancy has won just three of his past 16 games as a manager.
The defeats by United, St Mirren, Roma and Hearts now joined the ones that went before in America – Cincinnati (twice), Chicago Fire, New York City and New England Revolution.
Nancy finished seventh in the regular season in MLS, won 14 of 34 games, ranking joint sixth in the league for goals scored and eighth for goals conceded. After being manager of the season the year before, it was all very blah.
His credentials for the Celtic job were, at best, thin, despite the excited rhetoric of some observers in America, who painted him as a special one and his capture as a coup.
Let Nancy cook and judge at end of season – Henry
Published
1 day ago
‘When fans turn, that’s the end. I don’t think we’re far away from that’
Published
2 days ago
Lawwell cites ‘abuse and threats’ as he quits as Celtic chairman
Published
3 days ago
Is Nancy already doomed? And who’s to blame?
05:34
Media caption,
‘Keep the faith’ urges Nancy after fourth defeat
There are questions here. Many of them. Is he already doomed? If not, how long has he got? Celtic host Aberdeen on Sunday. Can he survive if he loses again? How many is too many? Five? Six? Seven?
And, given his humdrum season with Columbus Crew, how did Nancy get this job in the first place? Arguably, that’s the biggest question of all. He’d been a manager at Montreal and Columbus for a total of four years – then he’s given the Celtic job?
“We have been aware of Wilfried and his quality of work for some time,” said Michael Nicholson, Celtic’s chief executive. “He was our number one candidate when we began the process of appointing a new manager…”
What, exactly, was that process? Who else did Celtic talk to? How rigorous was their search? We don’t know. The number one candidate?
What we do know is that Nancy had Kwame Ampadu as his assistant in Columbus and that Ampadu and Celtic’s director of football operations, Paul Tisdale, worked together at Exeter City more than a dozen years ago.
On the back of a CV that shows spells at Bath, Exeter, MK Dons, Bristol Rovers, Colchester United and Stevenage, Tisdale has become a very significant figure at Celtic, one of the most influential characters in the place.
How? Again, we’re in the dark. Tisdale does not do interviews so there has been no chance to ask him anything.
If he suggested to the Celtic board that Nancy was their man, on what basis did he form that conclusion?
‘In three months, it’s gone belly-up at Celtic, which is incredible’
Scottish Football Podcast
18/12/25
Listen on Sounds
How thoroughly were Nancy’s credentials interrogated? From this remove – four games played, four games lost, three goals scored and 10 goals conceded – not thoroughly enough.
From there to here was always going to be a mighty leap for Nancy, but nobody knew it was going to be Grand Canyonesque in a footballing sense.
It’s understandable that sections of the fans have turned on him – he seems like a good man in the wrong movie, which makes this crash in slow motion all the harder to observe – but what of the people who appointed him?
What of Tisdale? He is as much to blame for the sorry mess that Celtic are in as Nancy is. More so, even.
Tisdale has powerful sway over the recruitment work that Celtic do and yet, in the main, he escapes the heat of the fans who have been fixated on principal shareholder Dermot Desmond and members of the board.
One of that board is leaving soon, of course. Peter Lawwell, a titan of the club for two decades, will depart at the end of the year, citing abuse and threats from a sinister element in the support that have impacted his family.
Lawwell is a big enough operator to take stick on the chin, as he has done for years. When his family are drawn into it then it’s another matter entirely.
Celtic are in a dark place right now. Instead of more threats from zealots and incendiary statements from members of the Desmond family, it needs some healing, some understanding and some class.
It needs dignity to break out where now there’s just dysfunction. On the pitch and off Wednesday was a grim day for the club.
Celtic’s next five games: Aberdeen, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers, Dundee United
‘Incredible not to pick O’Neill’s brain’
Nancy must be wondering what the hell he’s walked into and it’s not hard to have some sympathy for him. He asked for context in the aftermath of Tannadice and, in his defence, there is some. Not a lot, but a little.
It wasn’t Nancy’s fault that Johnny Kenny missed an easy chance or that Daizen Maeda spurned a sitter.
The blame for having the inexperienced Kenny leading the Celtic line is not on Nancy. It lies with others way above him – the ones who orchestrated the club’s slapstick transfer window in the summer.
The new manager is missing key players in Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota, but there is no evidence that he would get the best out of them even if they weren’t injured.
He hasn’t got the best out of the players he’s had in four games now. Nothing like it. Amid a fog of tactical and selectorial confusion most of them have gone backwards.
Once again, Celtic faded when it became a fight in that second half at Tannadice. Once again, an opponent spotted weakness and exploited it. Once again, Nancy was out-coached.
Nancy talks about performance in the manner of a man who has time. He doesn’t. The one unalienable truth about his job is that winning is everything, no matter how it happens.
Martin O’Neill would have spelled that out to him had Nancy spent more than 15 minutes picking the brains of a guy who knows Celtic’s past and Celtic’s present better than anybody.
It sounds like Nancy passed on the opportunity to mine the interim manager for information, which is incredible given he’s a man at a new club in a new league in a new continent.
For how much longer, it’s hard to tell. Logic would say that Nancy is already on borrowed time, but logic doesn’t seem to be pervasive at the club at the moment.
Strange things are happening on the pitch and off. And at the weekend, Aberdeen are coming, sniffing points and smelling blood. There is no fear factor now.
For the rest, against the diminished champions, opportunity knocks.
Wilfried Nancy’s low-key Celtic unveiling – but his start can be anything but
Mark Atkinson
By Mark Atkinson
Sports Editor
Published 5th Dec 2025, 21:00 GMT
Updated 6th Dec 2025, 09:26 GMT
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New manager exudes excitement and passion ahead of fast and furious start
Normally the occasion of a Celtic managerial unveiling takes centre stage, but there was a low-key element to Wilfried Nancy’s coronation.
Celtic Park is traditionally the venue for such an event. Not this time. We got our first glimpse of Nancy at the club’s training centre on Friday at Lennoxtown, in the shadows of the Campsies – and the World Cup draw. There was no chairman or chief executive to present him. That was left to the club’s comms director Iain Jamieson.
Not that Nancy can take the blame for timing and attendees, although the suspicion is that the 48-year-old wanted to keep everything close to the practice pitches when it came to location. After all, he has an awful lot of work to do, and not many hours to do it in.
Life will come at Nancy fast and furious. We have known for weeks that the Frenchman was the choice to replace Brendan Rodgers, who quit Celtic almost 40 days ago. In between now and then, Martin O’Neill so admirably filled in as caretaker that the champions have eradicated a nine-point gap between them and Hearts. Only goal difference separates them.
Nancy can go one step further on Sunday. He faces the Jam Tarts in his opening match – and that will be at Celtic Park. Win it and his team hits the summit.
A Europa League match against Roma on Thursday, followed by next weekend’s Premier Sports Cup final against St Mirren at Hampden. It is a good thing Nancy is an energetic individual.
Snared from Columbus Crew in the MLS, the first impressions of Nancy were positive: engaging, passionate, enthusiastic and delighted to be at Celtic. Not so long ago, in the same chair, Rodgers would sit poring over ructions with the board and transfer woes. Nancy’s infectious smile certainly illuminated the room.
“This club is a club with passion and we play also for the fans, so it’s totally normal that if we don’t play well that they can say something,” Nancy said as he tried to address some of the disunity affecting fans amid anger with the board. “But the idea is also to please them and to give them emotion.
“I am a coach. The idea is to bring joy, with the way we’re going to play and the results that we’re going to have. This is the only thing that I can control. After that, I cannot do anything. I’m aware about this but the idea is to connect.”
Nancy’s job ‘is not a normal one’
Nancy stressed the need to be humble amid the pressure-cooker environment of Scottish football. The sport is about ups and downs, he said, not a flat line. He is not scared of losing. In his view, sometimes a backwards step can take you forward. The Le Havre native has clear ideologies.
“My job is not a normal job, with a lot of humility,” Nancy continued, stressing that Celtic feels like a perfect fit for him. “The life we have, it’s unbelievable. But at the same time, we know that there is a lot of pressure. But pressure is part of our life.
“I was really pleased to see people welcome me, everywhere. I hope that they’re going to stay like that! Before I came here, I knew that the demand was high, and I knew that everybody talked about winning. But I don’t know a competitor who likes to lose.
“I know that if I don’t do a good job, maybe after five games, or 10 games, it’s going to be like that. Carlo Ancelotti is one of the most titled coaches and he’s been fired, so I don’t have an issue with that because this is part of our job.
“My job is to be clear, to maximise our chance to win, and to find a way to be consistent, and obviously the outcome is to win trophies. But the outcome, I cannot control that. I control what we do every day on the pitch.”
Pressed on his style of play, Nancy offered up this response. “We want to play offensive football – but what does that mean offensive football?
“This is more about everybody wants to score goals and so on, but for me it’s about ‘proactivity’ – to try to put doubt in the opposition, try to attack as soon as possible and after that be disgusting to play against. We’re going to have moments when we suffer so we need to be good defensively.
“Again it’s step by step. I arrived two days ago we have two days to prepare the game [against Hearts], so this is the idea.”
Nancy said he has been impressed with the quality levels within the squad but admitted the players need confidence. O’Neill started the process, now he has to continue it. He also has the January transfer market on the horizon – although his immediate focus is on those already in the building.
“First of all, I’m going to have to assess the team and to know them a little bit better,” added Nancy when asked about transfers. “I know them as a player because I’ve watched them in games. Now this is about knowing them as a person, and after that we’ll see what is the best for the team.
“I like to take my time. I know that I don’t have a lot of time but the idea is to be coherent, programming the profile that we need. Obviously they anticipate different stuff already, it’s totally normal. We have to be ahead, if we are not ahead we’re going to be in trouble.
“So it doesn’t change. But I stop everything, because let me see what we have and, after that, we will adjust.”
The next week will give Nancy a far more comprehensive dossier on the squad. By that point, he could be top of the league, on the cusp of the Europa League knock-outs and have a trophy in the pocket. There would be nothing low-key about that start.
Wilfried Nancy addresses social media storm as Celtic boss offers explanation for viral post
Matthew Elder
By Matthew Elder
Deputy Sports Editor
Published 17th Dec 2025, 22:11 GMT
Updated 17th Dec 2025, 23:35 GMT
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Nancy confirms X account authencity as post hits 3.2m views
Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy has confirmed that the social media post that caused a storm among supporters did come from his own account.
The Frenchman, who was appointed only two weeks ago after arriving from Columbus Crew in the MLS, is already under severe pressure after becoming the first Celtic boss in history to lose his first four matches in charge, with the 2-1 defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice on Wednesday marking the first time since January 1978 that the Hoops have lost four games in a row.
The previous evening, an account on X under the username @wilfriednancy, which was set up in Canada in 2011 and has been tagged by his previous clubs, issued what was perceived to be a defiant message to his critics.
Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy after the 2-1 defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)
Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy after the 2-1 defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group) | SNS Group
The post contained the hashtag #NewProfilePicture and showed a Venn diagram of two overlapping circles captioned ‘Things That Matter’ and ‘Things You Can Control’, with an arrow pointing to the overlapping area alongside the message, ‘What You Should Focus On’.
The image had been been viewed over 3.2 million times, re-posted over 1000 times and generated 550 replies before the account was locked on Wednesday.
The oblique message left Celtic fans unimpressed with the majority of replies ranging from disbelief to embarassment.
However, Nancy offered an explanation for the post prior to kick-off at Tannadice, claiming that he was simply trying to update his profile picture from an old Columbus Crew one.
Nancy told BBC Sportsound: “My wife was not happy and to be honest, believe me or not, the profile was about Columbus.
“So my X picture was about Columbus, me being in the locker room of Columbus. So I just wanted to change what I have on my WhatsApp.
“Simple as that. So it was not a mistake or something. I don’t want to create a battle so simple as that.
“I did it because my picture was looking upstairs in the locker room of Columbus so I just wanted to change what I have on my WhatsApp. Simple as that.”
Explaining Celtic manager Nancy’s ‘unusual’ tactics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx25vx4vvwdo
Image caption,
Wilfried Nancy has vowed to bring “exciting, attacking, winning football” to Celtic
By
Umir Irfan
Football tactics correspondent
Published
8 hours ago
Striking a balance between short-term results and building a long-term project is one of the hardest challenges for any club.
After Martin O’Neill steadied the ship at Celtic, the Scottish champions brought in Wilfried Nancy – the 2024 MLS Coach of the Year, who is known for an exciting, front-foot approach.
The Frenchman lost his first four games, but Sunday’s dramatic 3-1 victory over Aberdeen provided some much-needed respite.
Here we analyse Nancy’s distinctive tactical approach, why his Columbus Crew side impressed and what he is trying to create at Celtic.
What are Nancy’s tactics?
In his early days at Celtic, Nancy has implemented the system he used at Columbus Crew – a high-possession 3-4-2-1.
In possession, Celtic have built up with a 3-2 shape made up of their three central defenders and two central midfielders positioned close to each other.
Both wing-backs stay high and wide, and both attacking midfielders are positioned centrally, near the striker. As a result, the attacking midfielders and central midfielders form a box in the middle of the pitch.
At Columbus Crew, Nancy deliberately opted to use positionally versatile players.
Crew’s central defenders Steven Moreira, Sean Zawadzki and Malte Amundsen are comfortable at either full-back or in midfield, and their technical quality ensured the team was able to play with fluidity.
Nancy’s early team selections at Celtic have been questioned, but it will naturally take time for him to get to know his players.
While fans have expressed concern about him lining up with only one natural central defender, it could be something he persists with.
A screengrab from Celtic vs Dundee United showing Celtic’s 3-2-4-1 shape. Image source, BBC Sport
Image caption,
Celtic use a 3-2-4-1 build-up shape, making use of many players in deep build-up
How does Nancy use attacking centre-backs?
A screengrab of Wilfried Nancy’s Columbus Crew showing their build-up shape with eight players involved, six of them towards the left side of the pitch.Image source, BBC Sport
Image caption,
A typical example of Columbus Crew build-up play under Wilfried Nancy
Digging into Nancy’s approach at Columbus Crew shows the principles he likes to use in build-up play.
It is particularly interesting to note the position of his right centre-back – Moreira – as he moves into a midfield position unmarked.
These unusual movements, which require versatility from players, are likely to be a feature of Celtic under Nancy once the players become more used to his methods.
Nancy is also not afraid of asymmetrical play. In this example, there are eight players in close proximity – and six are on the left-hand side.
With small distances between each player, passing should be easier – and it presents an unusual challenge for a defending side.
Building up with this number of players so deep is designed to draw the opposition up the pitch, so that as they press Nancy’s men will speed up play and advance the ball up the pitch into dangerous areas.
That change in pace is paired with smart, unusual movements, with players encouraged to attack space that their team-mates have created for them by leaving their positions.
Defensive markers usually follow the attacking players out of position, and it is common to see Nancy’s wing-backs, central midfielders and central defenders make runs from deep into these gaps in the final third.
These concepts help explain why Celtic’s Kieran Tierney has found himself creating chances and scoring goals – with two in three league games – from left centre-back.
A screengrab from Celtic vs Dundee United in which Tierney has made a run from left central defence to the left wing to receive a pass before making a cross.Image source, BBC Sport
Image caption,
Tierney – Celtic’s left-sided central defender – leaves the back three to underlap into the free space before playing a cross
Promising signs in attack
Analysing Nancy’s attacking tactics should give hope to Celtic fans – even if examples of them working as he would hope have not been common in his early days in Glasgow.
Celtic have improved in their past two games – creating a huge number of clear goalscoring chances in the defeat at Dundee United and then the home win against Aberdeen.
Against Aberdeen, they had 71% of the ball, 31 shots, an expected goals tally of 4.53, and hit the post four times.
Even against a side reduced to 10 men, those numbers are staggering, and it would be fair to say a mixture of bad luck, the quality of the finishing and excellent saves restricted them to three goals.
What bodes well for Celtic is their attacking performances look to be gradually improving under Nancy.
Fans will need to show patience, however, as developing the relationships that enable these tactics to work takes time.
Nancy encourages freedom for his players to express themselves, which has an upside in the long run but takes longer to bear fruit in the short term.
During his time at Columbus Crew, when asked about structure and freedom in his side, he said: “For me, there is no creativity in structure. Within [our] concepts, players can move freely.”
A shot map from Opta illustrating all 31 of Celtic’s shots against Aberdeen this season.Image source, Opta
Image caption,
Celtic’s shot map from Sunday’s game shows how dominant they were in attack
… but defensive weaknesses
Nancy likes his sides to create goalscoring chances with precision.
Rather than focusing on crosses, he prefers to get players into the box to receive passes or cut-backs.
This took time to bed in at Celtic as it was not a big feature of his opening three league games.
Against Aberdeen, however, his players were looking for those extra passes to find team-mates in the box.
When that has not happened, crosses have led to turnovers – and with fewer players behind the ball, Celtic have been vulnerable to counter-attacks.
When Celtic lose the ball, Nancy instructs them to counter-press immediately. They have tried to do that with intensity, but when they do not do it in a co-ordinated manner, gaps open up and teams can easily get at their backline.
Another concern has been their inability to defend set-pieces.
An improved defensive structure may simply take time to implement, but Celtic’s squad appears to lack the profiles to dominate in their own box – both on the ground and aerially.
This can be the result of opting for more technical full-backs in place of traditional centre-backs.
Nancy believes their struggles once the initial ball has been cleared at a set-piece are a result of a lack of intensity. That may be partially true, but the players selected will influence how intensely a side defends.
A screengrab from Celtic’s loss to Roma this season showing a Roma player find space between Celtic’s defence and attack, before driving with the ball, eventually resulting in a goal.Image source, BBC Sport
Image caption,
In the build-up to Roma’s goal against Celtic, the hosts attempt to press but their visitors are able to play the pass into midfield under minimal pressure and the Italian side could exploit the gap between their opposition’s defence and attack
Celtic must trust the process
Celtic executives decided to recruit Nancy knowing what his game model consists of: a three-at-the-back system that entices pressure before players move the ball into the space that opens up.
Whether this works at Celtic, who face teams in domestic football who sit back in a low block rather than try to press them, will be a key factor in how successful Nancy is in Glasgow.
His sides are made up of players encouraged to rotate frequently, express freedom and play one-twos while looking to attack diagonally too.
It is a distinctive approach but it has worked in the past for Nancy and there have been more promising signs in Celtic’s past two games – even if one of those was a defeat.
Celtic will need to give him the time and the signings to bring the ideas that were a success at Columbus Crew to life.
Expectations at Celtic are high though, and an overhaul of this level requires small wins along the way in order to keep fans and players onside.
With that in mind, beating Aberdeen – even with two late goals against a side reduced to 10 men – was a much-needed step in the right direction.
Wilfried Nancy takes aim at Celtic ‘back-five myth’ and responds to Rod Stewart after Martin O’Neill rumours
Mark Atkinson
By Mark Atkinson
3Comments
Published 2nd Jan 2026, 18:50 GMT
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Midway through New Year’s Day, messages started to come in from Glasgow sources. “Martin O’Neill has cancelled a couple of events for Friday and Saturday. Have you heard anything?”
The Celtic rumour mill was beginning to crank into gear. The mere thought of O’Neill shunning appointments in Glasgow and Kilsyth to make another sensational return to the dugout for Saturday lunchtime’s Old Firm clash with Rangers had some supporters excited. And why wouldn’t they be, given his interim spell as boss yielded seven wins from eight.
His successor Wilfried Nancy will hit the eight-game mark this weekend. The previous seven have not entirely gone to plan. Two wins, five defeats, a lorryload of critics and cynics. He has ripped up the previous playing style and implemented his own system that so far isn’t going very well.
O’Neill isn’t coming back. Not yet, anyway. The “unforeseen circumstances” leading to postponed commitments were down to personal reasons rather than professional. But the clamour for the 73-year-old club legend is only going to intensify should Celtic lose to Rangers in their first game of 2026.
Nancy knows this. His pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon at Lennoxtown was pretty spectacular as he embarked on an astonishing seven-minute monologue to defend his so far underwhelming tenure as Celtic manager. The long and the short of it was that he “needs time”.
When axed Rangers head coach Russell Martin started the season so limply, it was pointed out that you don’t get time in Glasgow. Nancy is well within his rights to plead for some more wriggle room, more opportunities to provide evidence that his discombobulated players can get to grips with his ways. Rome wasn’t built in a day, although having a pre-season probably helps. The timing of Nancy’s arrival has been so detrimental to what he is trying to achieve.
But that begs the question as to why Nancy decided to make such drastic alterations in the first place. The ‘my way or the highway’ mantra is biting the 48-year-old on the bum. The armchair tacticians have waded into his fluid 3-4-3 formation. We are unlikely to see him move from it against Rangers.
Nancy sticks by his Celtic system
“I think about changing something every time,” was Nancy’s response to any prospect of a switch. “But again I do also my job to analyse what we can do. I have a look at all the goals that we conceded and you are going to tell me this is about the system. So I did it and it’s not the case because we conceded a lot of goals on set pieces.
“The only moment when we had an issue with the system, and this is something normal, is when we played against Roma, the second goal. But after that it was not about the system. All the other goals that we conceded was we had many players inside the box and sometimes it was a ping pong game in transition.
“Sometimes we had to go to score a goal and we got caught in the transition. Offensively we had a really good moment also. We watched with the players all the chances that we had since the beginning of the season and I know that you know it could have been different in terms of wins.
“But I’m not a guy with a ‘could have – should have’. This is a fact that at this moment in terms of results this is not what we want. But at the same time I see a lot of things that I really like and this is the direction that I like to take.”
Nancy – who will be able to call upon new signing Julian Araujo in his backline – seemed particularly irked by the suggestion that he likes his team to play with five in defence. “I want you to understand that I don’t play with a back five,” he stressed. “So this is useless to talk about this. I don’t play with a back five. The way we defend most of the time this is a back four or it could be a back three.
“What I want is to be good with the concept and this is for me the most important. For the moment again, this is only the beginning. I want to see certain things with that and after that I will analyse.”
Celtic fans want to see results. It is what O’Neill brought them, albeit in a pragmatic fashion. One exalted supporter is worried. Rocker Rod Stewart took to social media during the week to vent. “Everybody can talk,” said Nancy. “I know who I am and I know what I want to do. Again, I came in during the middle of the season so this is the reality and I am pleased to be here. But it’s a famous club so everybody can talk.
“I have nothing against that and I can understand it also because of the results. But if we go deeper, like I said, I see what we need to do and I can see the improvement. Not everybody can see that because they are focused on results. That is totally normal because when we win we are happy and when we lose this is difficult to accept. I am not saying I am happy with that. But we are working on that and I know we will be able to reverse that.”
Nancy was asked if the Rangers match is the biggest of his career. “No. The next game is always the biggest game because this is always the next game that I have to prepare for. I know that this is a rivalry. I know what it means this kind of game because I’ve been following this kind of game for many years, but I’m really excited by that.”
Make no mistake, this is the biggest of his nascent Celtic tenure. Three points off leaders Hearts, and with Rangers breathing down their necks, defeat would cause mutiny at an already fractious Celtic Park – and spark more pining for a certain Mr O’Neill.
Celtic sack manager Nancy after eight games
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ckgk9g2500no
Wilfried Nancy was Celtic manager for a mere 33 days
Published
2 hours ago
Celtic have parted company with manager Wilfried Nancy, with Saturday’s 3-1 defeat by Rangers his sixth loss in just eight matches and his 33-day reign the shortest in the club’s history.
The 48-year-old signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Scottish champions after the conclusion of the Major League Soccer season with Columbus Crew and took charge on 4 December.
But, having won seven of their eight games under interim manager Martin O’Neill, Celtic’s form slumped dramatically under Nancy.
The Frenchman became the first Celtic manager to lose his first two games before suffering a 3-1 defeat by St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup final and a 2-1 reverse at Dundee United.
It was the first time Celtic had lost four games in a row since a similar run under the legendary Jock Stein in 1978.
They won back-to-back league matches against Aberdeen and Livingston to stop the rot, but were beaten 2-0 at Motherwell on Tuesday and collapsed in a dismal second-half at home to Rangers.
Celtic have also removed Paul Tisdale from his position as head of football operations.
The former Exeter City and Stevenage manager had been in the role since October 2024.
A brief club statement confirms the exits, along with Nancy’s coaches Kwame Ampadu, Jules Gueguen and Maxime Chalier, adding that a “further update will be provided to supporters as soon as is practical”.
Celtic, champions in 13 of the past 14 seasons, sit second in the Scottish Premiership, six points behind Hearts and ahead of Rangers on goals scored.
Their points total of 38 from 20 games is 15 down from the same stage of the previous campaign.
Under Nancy, Celtic shipped 18 goals, one more than they had conceded during the opening 24 games of the season.
“Nancy was fixated on changing Celtic’s style, going to 3-4-3, playing in one particular way,” the club’s former striker Chris Sutton told Sky Sports.
“He just wasn’t adaptable. For Celtic to lose six out of eight games and ship as many goals as they did, it was kamikaze stuff.”
O’Neill, who managed the club from 2000-05, had been placed in temporary charge after Brendan Rodgers, who was appointed manager of Saudi Pro League side Al-Qadsiah last month, resigned in October.
Having previously managed rivals Montreal, Nancy led Columbus to the MLS Cup in 2023 and then the Leagues Cup – a competition between Mexican and American sides, as they finished second in the league.
However, after being named MLS manager of the year for 2024, his side slipped to seventh in Eastern Conference and 12th overall last year.
As he leaves Celtic, Nancy has enjoyed just five wins in his latest 20 games as a coach.
Serving from June 1999 to February 2000, John Barnes had previously been Celtic’s shortest serving permanent manager, overseeing 29 matches in his eight months.
How Nancy’s calamitous 33-day reign unfolded at Celtic
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cj9ypn21k3jo
Wilfried Nancy has been sacked by Celtic after eight matches
ByNick McPheat, BBC Sport Scotland and Scott Mullen, BBC Sport Scotland
Published
5 January 2026
Eight games. Six defeats. Just like that, the Wilfried Nancy Celtic tenure is over.
A nightmare spell has ended with the Frenchman setting records for all the wrong reasons after his arrival from Columbus Crew.
Replacing interim boss Martin O’Neill, who had steadied a rocky ship, Nancy has left the club capsized after the shortest managerial reign in the club’s history.
From mini tactics boards to scrutinised social media activity, here is how Nancy’s shambolic two months in Glasgow unfolded.
Debut double from hell
O’Neill was afforded the same amount of games in charge as his successor, but that’s where the similarity ends.
Across his eight games, O’Neill won seven, the only blip a 3-1 away loss to Midtjylland in the Europa League.
His reign included beating Rangers in a League Cup semi-final while Feyenoord were humbled in Rotterdam.
O’Neill’s Celtic had cut Hearts’ advantage at the Scottish Premiership summit to three points by the time the leaders were due to visit Parkhead.
The opportunity was there for Nancy, in his debut match, to close that gap completely with a game to spare.
However, despite making a bright opening, Celtic – in the Frenchman’s 3-4-3 system – were stunned by Hearts in a 2-1 defeat.
Nancy’s decision to flip to his favoured formation was instantly criticised, but bizarrely not as much as his choice of footwear or use of a handheld tactics board.
The extreme fallout of the loss introduced the 48-year-old to the brutal nature of football in Glasgow. His eye-catching green and white trainers were never seen again.
“I was pleased with the mentality,” said Nancy. “The performance was really interesting. Defensively, we were really good but we missed the few opportunities.”
Hearts manager Derek McInnes takes interest in Wilfried Nancy’s tactics boardImage source, SNS
Image caption,
Hearts manager Derek McInnes takes interest in Wilfried Nancy’s tactics board
Next up, Roma four days later in the Europa League.
Celtic, still deployed in a 3-4-3, were way off it and the Serie A side took full advantage, picking apart the hosts in front of a shellshocked home crowd.
Evan Ferguson, who scored two of Roma’s three goals, said himself it felt like Nancy’s players “didn’t know what they were doing” at times.
The defeat marked the first time a Celtic manager had lost their first two games in charge, but the nightmare was only just beginning.
League Cup final loss
A week on from his debut against Hearts, the Scottish League Cup final then presented Nancy with the chance to secure silverware – and a much-needed first victory – so soon after arriving.
But so much chat in the build-up to the Hampden encounter with St Mirren was dominated by voices saying O’Neill should have been the man to guide Celtic through the biggest week of their season.
And those voices only got louder when the Paisley side lifted their first trophy in more than a decade in a 3-1 win.
Stephen Robinson’s men were well worth their triumph, while Celtic still looked disjointed at best.
For much of the first half, centre-back Liam Scales could be seen marauding up the left wing. Winger James Forrest ended the game playing central midfield.
There was no tactics board in view, but the sight of captain Callum McGregor being called over to the sideline to receive instructions on multiple occasions was.
Perhaps the most sobering element of the game was how in control St Mirren were in the second half of a game of such magnitude.
For Nancy, it was another significant blow, one so damaging that many fans had already written him off.
“I really believe we are going to click and move forward,” he said post match.
“We are a bit fragile at the moment but my job is to give them confidence
“I am happy to be here at this moment. I accept the challenge.”
Wilfried Nancy’s first experience of Hampden was defeat in the League Cup finalImage source, SNS
Image caption,
Nancy’s first visit to Hampden proved painful
Board backing & Dundee Utd defeat
In the wake of that cup final defeat, so many Celtic supporters had long since made their mind up about Nancy’s appointment. According to the club’s board, they did not agree.
In the build-up to the midweek trip to face Dundee United, chief executive Michael Nicholson said Celtic’s support for Nancy was “absolutely solid”.
“I understand and respect the right of every supporter to express their discontent and share that with us, but we know where we want to go and step by step it’s all of our job is to support Wilfried, his team and the squad to take us where we want to get to,” he added.
While the build-up to the game at Tannadice started with support, it ended with yet another defeat, the Frenchman’s fourth on the spin as Jim Goodwin’s side came from behind to claim a 2-1 win.
There was a glimmer of hope for the former Columbus Crew head coach.
Next up, a home league encounter with Aberdeen, heralded the best performance from the defending champions under his guidance.
It took two late goals from Kieran Tierney and James Forrest to eventually see Celtic over the line to a 3-1 win, but they were utterly dominant. Seventy three per cent possession, 31 shots, four attempts off the wood work.
“I’m happy for the players, I’m happy for the fans, I’m happy for the club, I’m happy for the board. We chase anybody,” said Nancy.
Was this a new dawn? Or just a win over an erratic Aberdeen?
Two days after the big day, Celtic and Livingston offered up a Christmas cracker in West Lothian.
The Parkhead club were twice behind in the first eight minutes, but on each occasion should terrific character to haul level before pulling away to a 4-2.
Two victories, a corner turned?
Mauling in Motherwell
In short, no.
Motherwell are the team who arguably play the most attractive football in the country, with an intricate system built on defensive solidity.
In their previous meeting, Motherwell were 2-1 up only to capitulate thanks to a rare defensive lapse. There was no such courtesy offered here.
At Fir Park, Celtic were given the runaround by Jens Berthel Askou’s team in a deserved 2-0 win. So disgusted were supporters with the performance of Nancy’s men, the highest score on the BBC’s Player Rater for a man in green and white was 2.78 for Auston Trusty.
“We want to keep going, but this was a stop. This stop is going to allow us to be better collectively,” said Nancy.
Old Firm final straw
So, to Rangers.
Celtic fans spent so long at the start of the season cheering themselves up from a botched Champions League qualification campaign and their own side’s shortcomings by pointing across the city.
Ibrox was not a happy place. Their own Champions League attempt ended in humiliation, as did the tenure of boss Russell Martin who was last spotted getting bundled into the back of a car in Falkirk.
Celtic weren’t winning the title race, but Rangers were still nowhere to be seen in the rear view mirror.
Fast forward to Sunday, and the Old Firm rivals are now locked on the same points following an eye-opening 3-1 win for Danny Rohl’s team.
Celtic took the lead through Yang Hyun-Jun’s solo goal. He’s probably the one player to show improvement under Nancy.
But in the second half his team crumbled. The much criticised Youssef Chermiti scored an extraordinary double before Kasper Schmeichel flapped at Mikey Moore’s perfunctory shot.
By full-time, some fans had left their seats for a protest outside the main stand front door. They’d seen enough.
Now, so have their board.
‘Nancy blunder evidence of Celtic’s blurred vision’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx2lwljk4z9o
Wilfried Nancy’s last Celtic game was a home defeat to RangersImage source, SNS
Image caption,
Wilfried Nancy’s last Celtic game was a home defeat by Rangers
By
Tom English
BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer
Published
5 January 2026
On days like this, when a manager falls, the immediate reaction is to think about where it all went wrong, the timeline of doom, the moments where the writing started appearing on the wall.
With Wilfried Nancy, there’s no need for any of that because it was never right in the first place. There were no turning points in this saga, no twists in the plot.
Nancy’s appointment was one of the greatest blunders Celtic have made in their history. A relative rookie on a bad run with Columbus Crew – they finished seventh in Major League Soccer – it was a punt based on little more than the hipster vibes of Paul Tisdale, the now former head of football operations.
Tisdale didn’t open his mouth to fans or media in his brief time in a powerful position at Celtic Park, but he did a whole lot of damage. If Nancy ranks extremely highly in the club’s most calamitous calls then Tisdale is on a par or, perhaps even, slightly ahead of him given that it was the self-styled ‘Doctor Football’ who championed Nancy to the club’s board.
Nancy never got out of the blocks, his two wins from eight games coming in a flawed victory over bottom-of-the-table Livingston and a triumph over 10-man Aberdeen, who have also just sacked their manager.
All memory of Nancy’s reign – if you want to call it that – will be shovelled under a carpet now by anybody and everybody culpable in the process of appointing him. If they’re all true to recent form, none of them will speak, none will apologise, none will show humility by accepting that they got this woefully wrong.
The fans will have to make-do with a short written statement. Let them eat cake, in other words.
Nancy’s laidback arrival – spending just 15 minutes talking with Martin O’Neill before ripping up everything O’Neill had done to stabilise things – was in stark contrast to the unceremonious manner of his exit. O’Neill, as interim, was there longer than Nancy.
The Frenchman talked about building castles in the sky. He laboured under the fatal impression that he had time to deliver his vision and that he deserved patience. In his parallel universe he said that winning wasn’t everything while his masterpiece was under construction.
It was all about the “process.” He called on people to look at his past record as evidence of his ability. “Do your job,” he told journalists the day before failing to do his in a 3-1 home loss to Rangers, following on from a 2-0 defeat by Motherwell.
Nancy and Tisdale had to go. What’s also obvious is that the hapless state of the club goes way deeper than those two over-promoted characters. It goes back to who ratified their appointments and why. It goes back to Celtic not just losing their way on the field but off it. It goes to the very top.
Celtic have now lost a manager, a head of football operations and a chairman (Peter Lawwell, driven out by an abusive element in the support) since Hogmanay.
The lack of communication from the club is remarkable. Never mind the extreme elements of the support, regular fans – the vast, vast majority – feel a profound disconnection, an alienation from what is going on.
There is a sense of entitlement among some, for sure, and it’s easy to poke fun at that given all the titles Celtic have won. But, elsewhere, there’s just an anger about a club on the drift, making lousy decisions, going backwards domestically and in Europe while sitting on close to £80m in the bank.
These fans talk of a lack of ambition, a lack of a plan under the current board, led by Michael Nicholson, the chief executive, and Dermot Desmond, the major shareholder, and the power in the shadows.
Celtic’s vision seems to amount to staying ahead of Rangers and seeing what they can get out of Europe, if anything.
Brendan Rodgers railed against that thinking and his relationship with the powerbrokers at the club crashed and burned. There was a callousness about his exit and the brutal words about him from Desmond. Rodgers, for all his flaws, did not deserve that.
His assistant manager, John Kennedy, also left at that time. Kennedy had been at Celtic for 27 years as player and coach and yet he was given barely a sentence in a statement when he departed. He deserved more. It’s a legitimate question to ask – where’s the dignity and the class?
There’s not a big picture view at Celtic, or not one that’s apparent. Celtic could finish off their stadium and make it a near 80,000 citadel, one of the continent’s best, but they haven’t done it.
They could build one of football’s greatest museums – lord knows they have enough icons and great moments to fill it – but there’s no sign of it.
They could have deployed a modern and razor-sharp scouting system, but they haven’t done that either.
They bob along, cash-rich and content with bossing it parochially, but even that is now at risk. The emergence of Hearts and the support they’re getting from Tony Bloom and Jamestown Analytics is threatening to change the game in a very significant way.
Celtic thought they could take a gamble on Nancy because they couldn’t imagine a world where any other side could rival their hold over the league title, their bread and butter.
And so they’ve gone back to the future, to O’Neill until the end of the season. It makes sense. O’Neill will bring structure and stability on the field.
There won’t be so many bewildered looks on the faces of the Celtic players now. The system won’t cause them sleepless nights anymore. His return should galvanise things but the fact that the board have had to turn to him again is illustrative of their malaise.
On Monday, the board undid two mistakes that should never have been made, but the humiliation of these past few weeks and this season as a whole should spark some deep introspection among the hierarchy at Celtic Park. And with it, a question: Is this a great football club or is it not?
Nancy’s 33-day Celtic tenure in quotes
BBC
published at 12:54 GMT
12:54 GMT
Wilfried NancyImage source, SNS
Nancy on his appointment
“I know the history, I know the values of Celtic and I know what is expected of me on this journey. I know what Celtic means to so many people and my number one aim will be simple – to give our fans a strong, exciting, attacking, winning football team they can be so proud of.”
Chief executive Michael Nicholson
“We have been aware of Wilfried and his quality of work for some time – he was our number one candidate when we began the process of appointing a new manager.”
Major shareholder Dermot Desmond
“He is a man who absolutely understands the demands at Celtic. Everyone at the club will unite strongly behind Wilfried as we move forward and we will ensure we will give him our unswerving support as we strive to achieve our objectives.
Nancy on his style of play
“We want to take care of the ball. The ball is the only tool in our life, without talking, that we can connect people. So can we use the ball to create emotions? Can we use the ball to score goals? Can we use the ball to have messages between us?”
Nancy on losing to Hearts in his first match in charge
“Listen, I’m not about losing or winning. I’m about having a good performance. I want to win but for me it’s about individually what we can do better. The most important thing for me is if we give everything as a player individually.”
Nancy after becoming the first Celtic manager to lose his opening two games
“I expected it. Come on guys, I just came one week ago. A few players played six games in a row, we have injured players, we have big games coming.”
Nancy, after three opening defeats, on whether he should have waited to change the team’s formation
“It’s totally normal that people criticise me or say certain things regarding the system or the way I play because I don’t win. But I’m going beyond winning. It’s about character, it’s about personality, it’s about coherence.”
Nancy when asked if he had underestimated Scottish football after losing his fourth match, against Dundee United
“No, I know Scottish football. I know the way it is. I come from France. I come from Europe. I was close when I was a player to sign with Carlisle.”
Nancy after two late goals against 10-man Aberdeen earned his first win
“I don’t believe in luck but since I’ve been here I haven’t had luck.”
Nancy after defeat by Motherwell
“I knew that this could be a bit difficult because of the way they play and where we are at this moment.”
Nancy before the visit of Rangers
“I know that I don’t have time, because this is the way it is in my job. So, yes, I want to ask you, give me time, and you see my team.”
Nancy after 3-1 derby defeat in his final game
“The level that we had at certain moments was really, really, really high. We are really close to things turning around. But yeah, for the moment, details, details, details.”
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