Whatever Celtic do this season, the Wilfried Nancy reign will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
From the minute Nancy became Celtic boss, he was under the spotlight, and even in his first game in charge, he was being scrutinised like he had been here for months and months.
Celtic’s defeat to Hearts in December went viral for all the wrong reasons, including Nancy using a tactics board constantly during the game, and having to call over captain Callum McGregor, again and again, to discuss what he wanted.
Either way, the nonsense Nancy brought to proceedings was filtering through Scottish football and even being talked about at Motherwell.
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Stephen O’Donnell on Motherwell dressing room talking about Wilfried Nancy at Celtic
Stephen O’Donnell played against Celtic when Nancy was in charge; it was his assist that resulted in Ibrahim Said opening the scoring at Fir Park.
Motherwell would beat Celtic 2-0, and a week later, Nancy was sacked, as O’Donnell explained that his teammates were already talking about Celtic’s new manager before he could even get started.
Remember, Martin O’Neill had won all his domestic games in charge during his first interim spell, and as O’Donnell put it, ‘done exceptionally well.’
But even those at Fir Park knew Nancy’s opening matches were going to be tough, and how he simply couldn’t lose them, including the League Cup final to St Mirren, as he told Go Radio.
“It’s just difficult,” said O’Donnell about Nancy’s reign. “I did think at the time, it was Hearts and then St Mirren (domestically).
“Two very difficult games, especially with the fact that there had been a turbulent start. And Martin O’Neill had steadied the ship, if that’s the word, or just done exceptionally well.
“You then go, ‘Well, if this new manager loses,’ and we were all speaking about it in the dressing room, just because we all love Scottish football.
“If he loses his first two games, which is more than possible. St Mirren are a hard team to play on any occasion. Nevermind when you are trying to change your system.
“Then you have the first game against Hearts, albeit it was at Parkhead, and they did dominate. I watched the game. They had something like 70% possession. But they didn’t win.
“That then put the pressure on, and following the defeat in the (League Cup) final, it’s going to be very, very hard for any Celtic or Rangers manager to turn it around.”
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Martin O’Neill embarrasses Nancy
Of course, at the end of this all, Celtic want to lift title number 56 in May, and it remains to be seen how much damage Nancy’s reign has done.
But O’Neill has worked with the same group of players as the Frenchman, the same issues off the field, and the lack of a goalscorer.
Yet, it’s a night and day between the two, simply because the Hoops win, win and win under their legendary coach, and the stats prove it.
- O’Neill’s games in charge this season: 11
- Wins: 10
- Draws: 0
- Losses: 1
- Goals scored: 26
- Goals conceded: 6
- Clean Sheets: 7
- Nancy’s games in charge this season: 8
- Wins: 2
- Draws: 0
- Losses: 6
- Goals scored: 11
- Goals conceded: 17
- Clean Sheets: 0
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