Wilfried Nancy’s name slowly crept into the Celtic conversation.
He was a left-field candidate at first, with Kieran McKenna and Kjetil Knutsen being spoken about more widely.
But over the last ten days, he has been established as the firm front-runner for the job. This has been a major surprise in Scotland, especially given the relatively positive performances of the team under the interim leadership of Martin O’Neill.
Columbus Crew boss Nancy is a respected name in the States – he was named MLS Coach of the Year last year. So what was the reaction like over there?
One close follower of MLS has admitted that they were fairly shocked, too.
MLS expert gives honest reaction to Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic links
Dermot Desmond reached out to Nancy immediately after Brendan Rodgers’ departure, it has now been reported.
The Hoops’ majority shareholder supposedly agreed to wait until Columbus’ season was over – it now is after their defeat in the play-offs against FC Cincinnati ten days ago.
READ MORE: Wilfried Nancy could join Celtic ‘this week’ as L’Equipe names the one remaining hurdle
For MLS journalist Larry Henry Jr, the emergence of the rumours was a shock given how settled Nancy was at Columbus – however, he maintains that it was deserved.
He told The Celtic Way: “To be honest, when I heard about the links a couple of weeks ago news, I was kind of shocked.
“Because Wilfried Nancy seemed very content with Columbus Crew, but obviously, a lot of us knew that he would make that jump at some point.
“We didn’t know that it would be for a club like Celtic, so that just show about Celtic’s interest in him, and what he’s been able to do over the past four or five years in MLS, is pretty astonishing.
“So it’s definitely deserved, that interest. But I was definitely shocked myself that it was kind of out of nowhere, right?
“For a lot of the fans over there: ‘Who’s Wilfried Nancy, what’s he about? Never really heard of him before.’
“So it was definitely shocking, but definitely deserving as well, because he’s been a definite class act over here in MLS.”
What has Wilfried Nancy achieved in MLS?
Nancy was initially assistant to Thierry Henry at Montreal, where the pair finished 18th in the table. When Nancy succeeded Henry, they rose to third.
He left to take over Columbus after they had finished 16th, also guiding them to third place.
They then won the MLS Cup, establishing Nancy as a hero in the city. The following year, they followed that up by winning the intercontinental Leagues Cup.
They also made the CONCACAF Champions Cup final last year.
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