Celtic’s hierarchy are standing firmly behind Wilfried Nancy despite growing concerns among the fanbase that he’s completely ill-suited to the manager’s post.
Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat away to Dundee United was the Frenchman’s fourth successive loss since taking charge.
The 48-year-old has made the worst start of any manager in Celtic’s history, with the reverse at Tannadice the first time since January 1978 that the Parkhead club have been on such a dire run.
Despite speculation being rife on Thursday that the board were about to axe the former Columbus Crew manager, club sources insisted it was wide of the mark.
In a pre-recorded address released before the United game, chief executive Michael Nicholson revealed that he had been discussing the January transfer window with Nancy. And, although Celtic went on to lose again, Mail Sport understands that remains the case ahead of Sunday’s home match at Parkhead against Aberdeen.
With the team now set to trail Premiership leaders Hearts at Christmas, however, the pressure on Nancy is mounting.
Nancy gestures to his Celtic players during 2-1 defeat at Tannadice on Wednesday
Chief executive Michael Nicholson, above far left, released a pre-match address saying the board remained firmly behind Nancy
Wilfried Nancy has his head in his hands during a fourth straight defeat for his Celtic side
Having already lost to Hearts, Roma and St Mirren, Wednesday’s defeat proved to be the breaking point for some within Tannadice as they turned on the manager at full-time.
Now former Celtic midfielder Stiliyan Petrov has expressed doubts over whether Nancy should be entrusted with a January recruitment drive.
Martin O’Neill won seven games out of eight while in interim charge with a conventional 4-3-3 formation.
Nancy has had limited time to work with the squad, and his attempts to impose a 3-4-3 have had disastrous results.
Irrespective of the board wanting to stand by their manager, Petrov feels that the 48-year-old – who faces away games at Livingston and Motherwell before hosting Rangers – may not even see out the month.
The Bulgarian, who played in O’Neill’s team in the early to mid-2000s, told Sky Sports: ‘After what we’ve seen so far, would you trust the manager with the funds, the money that he wants to spend, and the players that he wants to bring in? That’s a big question.
‘There’s another two weeks until the transfer window opens and, if he doesn’t win games, I don’t think he’ll see the transfer window.
‘He’s been put on the spot, he’s been under a great amount of pressure, and I hope it works for him. It’s not good to judge somebody after two weeks but, unfortunately, that’s the way it is.
‘You only get time if you win games. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people don’t have much patience, especially the Celtic fans.
‘The Celtic fans have seen so much success, at the moment they haven’t seen what they require from the manager and the team and that’s why they are so anxious and they just want something to be done.’
