Wilfried Nancy: Celtic sack manager after 33 days and six losses in eight games in charge of Scottish Premiership club

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Wilfried Nancy: Celtic sack manager after 33 days and six losses in eight games in charge of Scottish Premiership club

Wilfried Nancy has been sacked by Celtic after just 33 days in charge.

The Frenchman suffered six defeats in eight games in charge after replacing Brendan Rodgers as the club’s permanent manager.

His final match was a 3-1 home defeat by Rangers on Saturday.

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Watch the highlights from the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Rangers

A club statement read: “Celtic Football Club announces that it has decided to terminate the contract of manager Wilfried Nancy, with immediate effect.

“The club thanks Wilfried for his efforts and wishes him and his family well for the future.

“Wilfried’s assistants, Kwame Ampadu, Jules Gueguen, and Maxime Chalier, will also be leaving the club and they take with them our good wishes.

“The club can also confirm that Paul Tisdale has left his position as Head of Football Operations. We thank Paul for the contribution he has made in that role.

“A further update will be provided to supporters as soon as is practical.”

Nightmare under Nancy

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Nancy missed two chances to pull Celtic level with Premiership leaders Hearts

The 48-year-old signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Scottish champions last month, joining from Major League Soccer side Columbus Crew.

Celtic’s form slumped dramatically under Nancy after they had won seven of their eight games under interim manager Martin O’Neill.

He became the first Hoops boss to lose his first two games in charge before suffering a 3-1 defeat by St Mirren in the Scottish League Cup final and a 2-1 loss away to Dundee United.

It was the first time the club had lost four games in a row since 1978 under the legendary Jock Stein.

They won back-to-back league matches against Aberdeen and Livingston, but were outclassed by Motherwell at Fir Park and collapsed in the second half against Rangers.

‘Right decision, but problems run much deeper than Nancy’

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Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton believes Wilfried Nancy’s departure from the club was ‘inevitable’ following their defeat to Old Firm rivals Rangers, but adds that the problems at the club run much deeper than that.

Sky Sports’ Chris Sutton:

“It’s a bit like the Ruben Amorim situation at Manchester United but over a shorter period.

“He was fixated on changing Celtic’s style, moving to a 3-4-3, playing one particular way. He just wasn’t adaptable and for Celtic to lose six and ship as many goals as they did – it was kamikaze stuff from Nancy.

“You want to give a manager time, but I think Celtic have acted decisively because there is a league title to win.

“The players have to take their share of responsibility. Poor form has not just been under Nancy; there were issues at the start of the season.

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Paul Tisdale was appointed Celtic’s head of football operations in October 2024

“Brendan Rodgers wanted more quality brought to the club, that didn’t happen. It was an unsavoury end. Things brightened up a bit under Martin O’Neill, he did a brilliant job, but the team weren’t play particularly well. Nancy came in and tore everything up, but the problems do run much deeper than Nancy.

“Nobody knows what Paul Tisdale was doing at the club. Dr Do-little.

“He had a large say in bringing Nancy in, and if he had a hand in recruitment over the summer that was also poor.

“It’s the right decision for him to part ways. Now Celtic are under pressure because this squad needs strengthening in January and quickly.

Should Celtic have learned from Martin’s Rangers spell?

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Ahead of the Old Firm clash, Wilfried Nancy launched a passionate seven-minute defence of his start at Parkhead and issued a message to critics following five defeats from seven games.

Sky Sports’ Alison Conroy:

Rangers took a risk when they appointed Russell Martin in the summer. He was not the fans’ choice, but the Rangers hierarchy admired the way he set his teams up and the style of football he wanted to play.

The problem was that supporters turned on him almost immediately.

His football philosophy may have looked good on paper, but he had a squad of players who could not make his plans work.

Martin lasted 123 days.

Nancy’s tenure has been even shorter. Is it fair to say Celtic should have learned something from their Old Firm rivals?

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Did Celtic make the same mistake as Rangers?

The Frenchman’s philosophy and style convinced the board he was the right man to replace Brendan Rodgers, even though not all the fans were convinced.

Questions were raised about whether the players could execute his style of football. Sound familiar?

Something else that sounded familiar was post-match interviews.

After drawing with Dundee, Martin told Sky Sports: “It’s great learning for the players. It’s a completely different challenge for them today and one we’ll be better for moving forward.”

Fast-forward to Celtic’s defeat to Rangers, Nancy insisted: “I see many, many good things. That’s why the frustration is here because we deserve better and we have to stay together and everything’s going to move forward.”

At Celtic and Rangers, fans demand wins.

Martin found that out the hard way. It seems Celtic learned little from that era at Ibrox – and Nancy’s ending wasn’t any better.