Blunt Martin O’Neill tells Wilfried Nancy his ‘style will come later’ in firm Celtic warning

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Martin O’Neill remains the interim Celtic manager for now…

But the announcement of Wilfried Nancy’s permanent arrival from Columbus Crew could come at any minute.

O’Neill’s spell has always felt like a temporary thing, but Hoops fans have enjoyed seeing a club legend return for one last dance – the club needed him after Brendan Rodgers’ resignation.

In many ways, Nancy is everything that O’Neill isn’t: An unknown quantity with a trendy brand of football and relative lack of experience. But this doesn’t mean that he can’t be a success.

So what advice does O’Neill have for his Celtic successor? Some pretty blunt words, in fact.

Martin O’Neill’s advice for Celtic successor Wilfried Nancy

Nancy has built his reputation on a high-possession brand of football – but whether he can immediately implement this with the Hoops’ squad is anybody’s guess.

O’Neill thinks that he should leave his philosophy for later, and focus on the winning for now.

READ MORE: Henrik Larsson compares Wim Jansen with ‘demanding’ Martin O’Neill ahead of Feyenoord vs Celtic

Asked about Nancy before tonight’s clash with Feyenoord, O’Neill was forthright in his advice.

He said: “Jock Stein said it, European football is where Celtic should be. But at this minute it’s a struggle for us.”

“He has to win, and he has to win right from the off.

“You’ve got to win. Celtic over the last 20 years have obviously been the dominating force in Scottish football, but honest to God, it would be the exact same message for the new manager going in at Rangers.

“First of all, winning gives you a bit of respite, and then it gives you a chance to build a team in your manner, whatever that manner may be. It’s all of those things.

“Style will definitely come later. This idea that you impose a style…if you’re talking about, for instance, young fella [Ruben] Amorim at Manchester United and he wants to impose a system, I think you have to work with the players. That’d be my only advice.

“You work with the players that you have and, if you win often enough, then either if you win and you think, well, winning that way was pretty good, so we’ll try and stick with that.

“Or, but essentially, giving you time to, as I said, to impose your own personality and your own style of play at the football club.

“Listen, I have no doubt that there is difficulty ahead of us. But it would be nice to do that.

“We have this game and then the Hibs game at the weekend and seemingly, although I’ve not been told officially, from what I heard, that’ll be it.

“I think there are still things at the other end that have to be sorted out yet. But I think I’m definitely here for this one and then Hibs. So it would be lovely to leave on a good note.”

Wilfried Nancy’s first games in charge of Celtic

After this weekend, the reported timeline will see Nancy given a home match against Dundee as his first in charge of the Celts. Dundee won the reverse fixture.

He faces a daunting trio after this, starting with a clash with Premiership leaders Hearts next Sunday.

High-flying Serie A giants Roma come to Glasgow after that, before the small matter of a Premier Sports Cup final against St Mirren.

Starts don’t come more significant for a Celtic manager.