Celtic’s defeat to Rangers has been a sore one to take for the fans after the recent run of results under Wilfried Nancy.
The Celtic manager is now under even more pressure after the Bhoys’ 3-1 home defeat to Rangers saw a familiar story unfold with Nancy’s team after a second-half derby capitulation.
Hyunjun Yang scored a world-class goal to put Celtic ahead after a first-half performance saw the Bhoys batter Rangers, but fail to put the game out of sight.
Chris Sutton thinks Paul Tisdale should go with Wilfried Nancy… can you see this happening?
The story was the same as Celtic lost to Hearts, Dundee United and, at times against St Mirren in the cup final, but Rangers beat the Hoops after Nancy’s tactics, and the team’s inept finishing was punished once again.
And in a fiery exchange with a Celtic supporter, Chris Sutton sent a Martin O’Neill reminder as the fan compared Nancy’s record to the Hoops legend’s temporary spell in charge.
Chris Sutton not making Martin O’Neill ‘excuses’ in exchange with fiery Celtic fan
Celtic fans enjoy Sutton’s take on the club because he will give them it both barrels if there are clear deficiencies that are not being addressed.
But as a Celtic supporter compared O’Neill’s short record to Nancy’s, Sutton sent a small reminder that not all was well even under the Hoops legend’s temporary spell.
The exchange on BBC 606 went like this:
A Celtic fan, Tom, said on the programme, “I personally think the Celtic players are now not playing for this man. That’s the only explanation I can now give.
“I mean, if I was in a job and somebody came in and I seen he was out of his depth, you know, I would be starting out at the job centre for somewhere else to go.
“Some of these players may well be doing that.”
Sutton: “Are some of the players out of their depth though, Tom?”
Tom: “No, no, no, let’s draw back to the start then, Chris. Martin O’Neill, won seven out of eight. How can the same players now get six out of eight?”
If Wilfried Nancy was to be sacked, who would you want to become the next Celtic manager?
Sutton: “But Celtic haven’t been good all season. Let’s get it right. They weren’t good under Brendan Rodgers.
“And then under Martin, Martin got results, but the performances…”
Tom: “Are you making excuses Chris?”
Sutton: “I’m not making excuses.”
Tom: “It sounds like it.”
Sutton: “I’m just telling you how it was. Martin did unbelievably well.”
Celtic have been ‘poor all season’ as Sutton sets the Martin O’Neill record straight
As the conversation continued, the Celtic fan was becoming more irate and then that attention continued on the players.
Tom: “Maybe the players aren’t good. You may be saying the players aren’t good, what I’m saying here is seven out of eight [wins] with Martin O’Neill with the same players, [under Wilfried Nancy] six out of eight. So then what does that lead you to?
“I mean, the team that we beat in the semi-final just two months ago, Rangers, we beat them three-one.
“They turned up and they…Okay, the first half, we gave them a bit of a doing, but the game lasts over 90 minutes.”
Sutton: “It was a ten-man Rangers, that. All I’m saying is, is Martin O’Neill did incredibly well, but in many respects, the performances weren’t there, and he was the first one to admit that, and, you know, he was getting results.
“So while Wilfred Nancy certainly hasn’t covered himself in glory, it has been poor all season.”
You can listen to the remarkable exchange below:
Regardless of what people think about O’Neill’s short tenure, he did get results while the team was playing poorly.
But that was because O’Neill was playing his players in positions where they were strongest. That is Nancy’s biggest downfall here.
Unfortunately, the Frenchman hasn’t learned his lesson and after just eight games in charge, Nancy’s time at Celtic is heading to a swift end.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
