Wilfried Nancy’s first week at Celtic couldn’t have gone much worse.
Defeat in a league six-pointer at home to Hearts, a comprehensive European loss to Roma and a disastrous Premier Sports Cup final against St Mirren have left the Frenchman under pressure already.
Matters haven’t been helped by the team’s run of results under the interim charge of Martin O’Neill, who won seven of his eight games.
Where O’Neill seemed to prioritise efficiency with a few slight tweaks to Brendan Rodgers’ system, Nancy has introduced a new formation immediately, and the transition hasn’t been smooth.
The use of several players out of position hasn’t helped. But something that could help is a further addition to the coaching staff.
Would you hire a new assistant coach to help Wilfried Nancy?
Wilfried Nancy Celtic coaching staff update
Rodgers didn’t leave alone – he took John Kennedy with him, alongside two other coaches and one analyst.
O’Neill was assisted by Shaun Maloney, Mark Fotheringham and Stephen McManus – all of whom made their Celtic debuts under O’Neill – but none of these coaches were retained under Nancy.
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Kwame Ampadu came as Nancy’s assistant, alongside video analyst Maxime Chalier and assistant coach Jules Gueguen.
Initial reports also claimed that assistant Yoann Damet would be of interest to Nancy, having been personally hired by his countryman having previously worked at LA Galaxy.
However, it now appears that he won’t be following Nancy to Glasgow, as he is close to being named manager of St Louis City in MLS.
That’s according to The Athletic, who say that a deal is close. Damet would be one of the youngest coaches in the league, aged just 35.
Damet has been coaching since the age of 16, and has worked with a host of MLS clubs since moving to Montreal in 2015.
Reports had also claimed that Celtic would hire a coach with a pre-held knowledge of Celtic and Scottish football to work with Nancy. But as yet, this hasn’t happened.
Does Wilfried Nancy have the belief of the Celtic players?
Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic coaches, a background
Nancy has said that Ampadu grew up supporting Celtic. The 54-year-old was born in Yorkshire and grew up in Dublin, earning youth caps for Ireland.
As a coach, he worked with Paul Tisdale at Exeter before moving to the Arsenal academy. He then assisted Thierry Henry at Monaco, following him to Montreal where he met Nancy.
Chalier is from Lyon, and worked his way up from amateur football in Canada to link up with Nancy in Montreal.
Gueguen studied sports science in Sweden before also meeting Nancy in Montreal.
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