Neil Lennon has discussed the failed experiment of Wilfried Nancy at Celtic.
In a left-field appointment late last year, Nancy was poached from Columbus Crew for his first role in Europe, immediately displacing Martin O’Neill despite an uptick in results under his interim lead.
Immediately, Celtic’s formation and style of play was changed, and six defeats in eight led to his dismissal just 33 days later.
Russell Martin had a similar fate with Rangers earlier in the campaign, albeit with a pre-season. So what’s behind these appointments?
What has Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic tenure done to your expectations for the Hoops’ next appointment?
Neil Lennon discusses ‘new-age’ managers after Wilfried Nancy at Celtic
Ask about the impact (or lack thereof) of these managers on talkSPORT, Lennon said: “Well, you’ve got — I don’t know what you would call them, Andy — the new age manager.
“Some are successful, and some aren’t. It wouldn’t be my cup of tea, and it wouldn’t be how I would approach a management job.
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“There’s a lot of PR work that goes on behind the scenes, without any real substance to what they’re actually doing.
“And I think, sometimes, they fall short. They get found out. Russell had a good pedigree when he came up here, but Glasgow’s a very intense environment. You need to get results, and that went against him.
“Wilfried Nancy… I don’t know who was behind that appointment, but it didn’t work out very well in a short space of time, so Celtic had to change that very quickly.
“They brought in a man with good experience, who’d been over the course and distance before. He obviously works with you guys at times, with Simon [Jordan] and Jim White.
“Man-management is key, but obviously, you use all the tools at your disposal. With the data analytics, with the analysis of oppositions, with the trends that you follow in the game.
“You take it on board, but you don’t have to preach it from the pulpit all the time. You can sort of take it in and use it to your advantage, but also have your own platform to work from.”
Lennon’s point on preaching methods from the pulpit is particularly telling, given that both Nancy and Martin are both so defined by their style of play.
Should Celtic make a decision on Martin O’Neill’s permanent future before the end of the season?
What have we learned from Wilfried Nancy at Celtic?
Lennon says he doesn’t know who was behind Nancy’s appointment, but we know that the answer to that question is Paul Tisdale.
The Head of Football Operations was familiar with Nancy’s assistant, Kwame Ampadu, from working with him at Exeter.
The fact that Tisdale was sacked along with the Frenchman was telling. Celtic were essentially trying to wash their hands of the appointment, and everything connected with it.
We can safely assume that the next appointment won’t be another unknown curveball — but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be a success.
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