Dermot Desmond warned that Wilfried Nancy will not be a Celtic ‘yes man’

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The appointment of Wilfried Nancy as the next Celtic manager must be close now, right?

Nancy has been hogging the headlines as the Columbus Crew boss’ name rose to the top of the Parkhead board’s managerial candidate list.

However, Celtic’s latest managerial update seems to suggest that the Frenchman will not be in charge for the visit of Stephen Robinson’s team.

But as Dermot Desmond whittles down who he thinks should take charge of Celtic, the largest minority shareholder has been warned that Nancy is no ‘yes man’.

• READ MORE: Celtic fans send the Parkhead board a furious message after latest managerial update

Celtic-linked Wilfried Nancy’s dressing room ‘bust-up’ with Montreal FC owner

Celtic fans want a manager who will stand up to the Parkhead board and not take any nonsense, especially around matters dealing with transfers.

And podcaster Simon Houston has told a story how Nancy did just that when he was in charge at Montreal FC in Canada.

Houston told the Let Me Be Frank podcast, “What I’m liking about Wilfried, the more I read about any suggestion that he’s going to be a Dermot Desmond yes man is blown out the window if you read into the bust-up he had with the Montreal owner Joey Saputo after the loss to Kansas City.

“The owner went down to the changing room and wanted to speak to him and he wanted to speak to the goalkeeping coach or whatever. And Wilfried stood at the door and said no you’re not getting in.”

Celtic-linked Nancy’s Montreal bust up galvanised the dressing room

There is nothing players like to see more than their manager sticking up for them against criticism in the press or from the people in the boardroom.

And Nancy’s very public argument with Saputo did just that at Montreal.

Houston continued, “There was a frank exchange of views and they had a ding-dong to the point where all the players thought, well, he’s not going to survive this, he’s going to be fired or resign on the spot.

“And they all got behind him. The players were determined that he was going to stay. He commands a lot of respect among his players also.

“So there’s a bit of backbone there.”

The Celtic fans will be over the moon with this story because the fear is that any new gaffer coming in will have to take anything that the board has to throw at him.

And after this story from Houston, that will certainly not be the case if Nancy does land the Celtic job.