Wilfried Nancy being sacked from Celtic was the desired outcome for most Hoops fans.
Nancy’s instant shift to a completely different 3-4-3 shape was ill-timed, and led to an almighty downturn in the team’s fortunes.
In the end, the club were left with egg on their face for pushing through with the appointment, bringing Martin O’Neill back after allowing Rangers to draw level with them on points.
Nancy was ridiculed by some in Scotland, for unorthodox media comments and his use of a tactics board on the touchline.
But one of the main proponents of that discourse – Ryan Stevenson – has now defended Nancy after his sacking.
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Shaun Maloney loving the intensity of the Celtic players!
Ryan Stevenson on Rod Stewart celebrating Celtic sacking Wilfried Nancy
Shortly after Celtic announced Nancy’s dismissal, a video emerged of Rod Stewart celebrating the news, shouting: “He’s gone! He’s gone!”
In the clip, available via BBC Scotland, Stewart said he “didn’t care” if he was fired or resigned, adding that he was off to the pub to celebrate.
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Of all the people to criticise this video, Stevenson is probably the one you’d least expect… but here we are.
He said in his column for the Daily Record: “Let’s get one thing straight right from the start. There will be absolutely no gloating from me now that the plug has been pulled on Wilfried Nancy.
“Yes, I may have gone early when I predicted how this would end up. But that was only because it was so obvious to me during his very first game in charge against Hearts.
“At one point during that opening defeat I turned to Packie Bonner in the radio gantry, live on air and said I thought Nancy would be lucky to make it to February if this was the way he was going to go about it.
“And it gives me no pleasure at all to see that I was being overly generous, now that he’s been sacked in the first week of January with a record of six losses from his eight games at the club.
“If truth be told, I feel genuinely sorry for the guy. He didn’t ask to be made manager of Celtic.
“They came chasing after him when he was at Columbus Crew. What was he supposed to do, turn it down?
“OK, I suspect that he didn’t have a clue what he was about to step into but he’ll have done his homework, looked at the size of the club and the stadium and he probably couldn’t quite believe his luck.
“It was an offer he was never going to refuse and no-one should blame him for that.
“The real question is why on earth the people in charge of making that decision inside Celtic couldn’t see what I did from the start? It was simply never, ever going to work.
“That was my professional assessment from day one. But it was never anything personal. So I don’t like the reaction there’s been since his removal the other day.
“When I saw Sir Rod Stewart posting a video on social media actually celebrating the decision it made me feel sick to my stomach.”
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Wilfried Nancy’s ill-fated Celtic spell
Nancy’s start to life at Celtic was daunting on paper – and in the end, the worst-case scenario was exactly what played out.
After O’Neill’s run of wins in his interim spell, Nancy lost 2-1 to Hearts, 3-0 to Roma and 3-1 to St Mirren in his first week.
This was bruising enough, and after a 1-0 defeat to Dundee United, fans were already calling for him to be sacked.
Wins over Aberdeen and Livingston weathered the storm and showed better signs on the pitch – but in a crucial week of games against Motherwell and Rangers, two more defeats sealed Nancy’s fate.
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