Wilfried Nancy has endured a tough start at Celtic. There is absolutely no doubt about that.
The Frenchman has had to put up with all sorts of nonsense being said about him online and in the media after Celtic’s defeat to Hearts.
The Celtic boss is already being branded a dud by many and, in truth, the comments aimed at Nancy are nothing short of disgraceful after just 95 minutes of football.
However, is all this happening because Celtic may have set Nancy up for a fall before he could even walk? Or has the former Columbus Crew man made a rod for his own back?
Are you concerned by Wilfried Nancy’s post-match comments?
Michael Stewart has a theory and the Premier Sports pundit debates whether or not the Parkhead club should have waited just seven more days to unveil Nancy as the new permanent Celtic boss.
Michael Stewart shares when he would have handed Wilfried Nancy his Celtic debut
Stewart told the Scottish Football Social Club, “In ideal world, at this point, would you want Wilfried Nancy coming in and you know he’s going to change system, or you’ve got a pretty good guess that he’s going to do that, in the week of you’ve got the league leaders coming to your home ground for his debut, Roma in the Europa League and the Premier Sports Cup, do you want them coming in this week? Or do you want him coming in next week?
“I’ve got to say you would be saying, let’s come in next week and get in on the Monday. And you’ve got a full week to build up
“He had two or three days to build up to the Hearts game. So, I mean, if I was Celtic, would I have made that tough call?
“But it’s a real difficult one, because you then got to think to yourself, if you make that call and you’ve tried to persuade Nancy that he comes in, like seven to 10 days later, is that going to make him start feeling like he’s been undermined.
“Do they believe in what he’s doing? It’s a difficult one.”
Why Michael Stewart has it wrong about Wilfried Nancy’s timing as Celtic boss
Look, we get it. We understand that bringing in Nancy at this point of the season was going to be a gamble but, in truth, there never really is a right time.
What if Celtic did wait? The club would be just as well telling him that they have no confidence in his ability at all to lead the team.
And, let’s face it, there are going to be much bigger games coming Nancy’s way this season than Hearts, Roma and St Mirren.
The best thing Celtic could have done is getting Nancy started ASAP. That way he gets to assess the team, identify replacements and look to strengthening in January.
Delaying his start would only hinder the rebuild Nancy needs to get going and, longer term, that would only damage Celtic’s progress under the Frenchman.
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