Wilfried Nancy was one of the most highly-rated managers in MLS when Celtic hired him.
But as many already knew, his disastrous 33 days in charge have since proven that Scottish football is a completely different kettle of fish.
Nancy’s insistence on instantly implementing a completely different system was ultimately his downfall. As the team struggled to get to grips with it, he lost six of his eight matches in charge.
Celtic have now opted to bring back Martin O’Neill until the end of the season, in an attempt to essentially undo the last month under Nancy.
There have been mixed reactions to his Celtic spell in the USA – but American legend Landon Donovan has had some interesting things to say.
What message would you send Wilfried Nancy as Celtic sack the manager?
Landon Donovan on Wilfried Nancy leaving Celtic
Nancy won trophies at both CF Montreal and Columbus Crew, being named MLS Coach of the Year in 2024.
He joined Celtic off the back of his lowest league finish at Columbus, after being eliminated in the first round of the play-offs.
READ MORE: Celtic interest in Gary O’Neil revealed as Wilfried Nancy sacking leads to ‘really interesting’ call
Speaking on Unfiltered Soccer with Tim Howard, Donovan defended Nancy, criticising the timing of his move to Celtic.
He said: “He’s a great coach. He’s a great person by all accounts. Everyone I speak to says he’s phenomenal.
“Here’s my issue, Tim, and I know you disagree with this, but coaching hires are about timing for the coach. And timing is everything. It really is.
“Unfortunately, in Europe, what happens most of the time is it’s not like Black Monday in the NFL. It’s usually middle of the season. Things aren’t going well.
“There’s a relegation threat, or not getting in a Champions League threat, or not winning the title threat. And emotional owners make rash decisions and they change things.
“And if you’re Wilfried Nancy and you’re in Columbus and all of a sudden Celtic come knocking, the emotional response is, ‘yes, of course I want to do it. Of course I want to do it.
“The problem is if you are not good at getting results now while trying to build, you’re putting yourself at risk. Big time, at risk. And there’s a reason why these guys, Sam Allardyce and guys like this, are hired mid-season because they can get results today.
“They’re not building out some elaborate style that’s going to change the club for years to come. They’re just getting results now.
“And for Celtic, if you’re Wilfred Nancy and you go there during the Christmas period and there’s lots of games and you’re struggling and you’re battling, I just think it was a bad decision.
“And, you know, he got bad advice or he made an emotional decision. I didn’t like it at the time. I’m not like looking at it now and saying, Oh my God, I know what I’m talking about.
“I just hate when that happens. Could he have waited till the summer? Maybe they would have moved on, right?
“They would have had someone else. But I just, it’s tempting. I get it. I really get it. But I just think it was a bad decision.”
The first thing I would do if I was on the Celtic board is – – – –
Wilfried Nancy’s downfall at Celtic
Nancy’s opening run of fixtures were pretty daunting – it was high-risk, high-reward stuff.
In the end, the risk blew up in his and the club’s face, as Celtic lost his first four games. This led to calls for Nancy to be sacked at Tannadice.
Two wins over Aberdeen and Livingston seemingly steadied the ship, but when Celtic followed that up with a defeat to Motherwell, it felt like the Glasgow Derby was win or bust.
And after a 3-1 defeat on Saturday, the writing was on the wall for Nancy.
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