Barring a very select few, no manager brings an absolute guarantee of success in football.
Unless your name happens to be Pep Guardiola, pretty much every appointment at a club will bring a certain degree of risk.
But there are some which feel like even more of a gamble than others. Celtic’s ongoing pursuit of Wilfried Nancy would fit into this bracket.
In theory, he ticks certain boxes. He’s a relatively young, up-and-coming coach who has developed a reputation for playing a stylish brand of attacking football.
He has won a league title during his time in America with Columbus Crew. He improves and develops players, while building strong relationships. He is likeable, articulate and interesting.
However, in the grand scheme of things, Nancy is also a relative novice. For a start, he has only been a manager for four years.
Wilfried Nancy celebrates after leading Columbus Crew to their MLS Cup triumph in 2023
Ange Postecolgou was similarly unknown when he arrived at Parkhead but had a far more extensive coaching record than Nancy
Martin O’Neill will remain as interim manager until Celtic find a permanent replacement for Brendan Rodgers
For all he won the league with the Crew in 2023, they also finished seventh in their MLS conference in the season just past and were knocked out in the first round of the play-offs. Hmm.
Presumably Paul Tisdale, Celtic’s head of football operations, was willing to overlook all that when he gave Nancy such a glowing endorsement to Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell.
Tisdale knows Nancy through a previous connection to Exeter City. Maybe in the fullness of time, his appointment will prove to be a masterstroke and Celtic will have struck gold like they did with Ange Postecoglou.
But Postecoglou’s managerial CV was far more extensive and successful than Nancy’s. Ultimately, this is a huge roll of the dice.
One which provides another intriguing sub-plot in what is becoming one of the most bonkers seasons in Scottish football.
The real winners could be Hearts. If Nancy ends up failing, the door would not just be ajar for them to win the league title, it would be absolutely wide open.
Rangers cannot yet be discounted either. Danny Rohl has clearly got something about him and is turning things around at Ibrox, albeit he’s hampered by the club’s woeful recruitment in the summer.
In all fairness, Rohl was even more of a novice than Nancy. The difference being that he had coached at a much higher level with Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and the German national team.
One thing’s for sure. No one is going to run away with the league title this season. It could quite easily be a three-horse race come the end of January and beyond.
As a spectacle for the neutral, it’s exactly what Scottish football has needed for years.
