Celtic’s defeat to Hearts has caused all sorts of different reactions online from fans, pundits and, of course, the Scottish mainstream media.
Hearts beat a Celtic side that looked bereft of ideas after which was strange because after the first 20 minutes of Nancy’s managerial debut, the Bhoys looked energetic and very attack-minded.
However, that dynamism slowly started to erode, and when Hearts’ first goal went in, Celtic looked a very different side.
The 2-1 defeat was not helped by the media openly mocking Nancy’s communication technique on the sidelines, a mocking that really should have been lambasted by Celtic supporters, which is something I will probably touch on later today.
However, after hearing the new Celtic boss’ post-match interview, former Hearts man Ryan Stevenson was forced into an embarrassing climbdown by Hoops hero Pat Bonner after the Tynecastle man said he ‘hates’ the way Nancy appeared to beat about the bush.
Ex-Hearts man Ryan Stevenson is annoyed at Wilfried Nancy’s post-match Celtic interview
As every football fan knows, managers have to adopt a different technique for media duties than how they would speak to players in a private dressing room.
Most football fans would also expect an ex-professional player to know this basic fact, but it appears that Ryan Stevenson has been out of the game too long and has forgotten all about it as he went on a strange rant about Nancy’s post-match Celtic interview.
Stevenson told BBC Radio Scotland, “Listen lads, I hate all this. I’m not asking them to come out and single out any one of the players. You have to call it as you see it.
“Listen, these fans are paying money to come here to watch their team. If I’m sitting in that changing room, I don’t want managers to come in and go, do you know what lads, we could have maybe crossed it a bit more, or we could have looked at doing this or doing that.
“I want managers to come in because he’s setting a precedent.
“They’ve just been beat off Hearts. Come in and go, listen lads, that was not good enough.”
Very weird way to look at this, but Pat Bonner was having none of it.
Pat Bonner shuts down BBC pundit Ryan Stevenson’s Celtic boss criticism
Bonner immediately jumped in and shut down this strange piece of criticism as the Celtic hero delivered some perspective to the former Hearts man.
Bonner replied, “But we don’t know what he said though, Ryan, in the dressing room. What you say to players and what you say out here to the public can be very different.”
Stevenson: “I suppose it can be different.”
Bonner: “He’s got to try to pick his words to have something positive out of this game, which is very little, to be perfectly honest.
“I wouldn’t read too much into what he said in this first interview.
Stevenson: “Yeah, I get it. I’m just looking at it from a Celtic point of view.”
Bonner: “No, you’re right. I’m looking at it from a Celtic point of view also, but he’s got to be allowed a little bit of time to get to know the players.
“Even Martin [the BBC reporter] asking the questions, he’s got to work it out in his head. He’s from France, remember also.
“So I wouldn’t be too critical of that interview. I want to hear and see what he’s going to do with the players. That’s the critical factor.
“The big talking point today is the change of system.”
Was Pat Bonner correct to shut down Ryan Stevenson’s comments about Wilfried Nancy’s post-match Celtic interview?
For Nancy, Thursday night now becomes very important for the Celtic boss. Avoiding a defeat against Roma will take the criticism off the Frenchman and give him a boost ahead of the Premier Sports Cup final against St Mirren.
The narrative has already been set about Nancy, the Celtic boss and the fans must now take steps to change that and call out the hounding that has already started to take place.
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