He says he has faced adversity before and is strong enough to deal with it. Wilfried Nancy does indeed come across as a man of substance and conviction, of belief, both in himself and his football system.
Right now, though, he’s trying to weather the mother of all storms. He’s sinking, and fast, with the prospect of reaching dry land looking increasingly distant.
A new club, a new country, a new league. Three big games, three bad defeats. A cup final mauling by St Mirren particularly depressing for those in green and white, and especially conspicuous given the first silverware of the season was up for grabs.
The black and white ribbons now adorning the League Cup make the message all the more stark in monochrome: this simply will not do for Celtic.
How many matches in a row can a manager at Parkhead – any manager – lose before the job becomes untenable? Four? Five? Ten? It would seem absurd to consider the Frenchman’s security of employment just now when he’s not even been here a fortnight. Or would it?
No Celtic boss has lost his first three games, let alone a fourth. Were Dundee United to follow Hearts and St Mirren’s example at Tannadice and send the champions away defeated again, what then?
These are perilous waters for Nancy despite all his confidence.
What strikes me about all this is it seems so unnecessary. When the last manager had restored shattered confidence to win seven of eight games, was it really a wise move to take a blowtorch to all that?
Straight to a 3-4-3 system with players clearly unfamiliar with that line-up. In particular when the back three, as in Nancy’s first two matches, were all left-sided?
Three defenders on the park seemed a tad risky in his first couple of games. Hearts and Roma took full advantage, both scoring from corners, racking up a combined five goals.
Wingers Yang Hyun-jun and Sebastian Tounekti as wing-backs, tasked with being the last line of defence on either flank in extremis? I’ve yet to speak to a single person who thought that was a good idea. Or who was surprised when such decisions, allied to others, ended up in defeat.
Culture change is difficult and takes time, a commodity Nancy is already running out of perhaps quicker than he realises.
To affect such transformation, you have to take people with you. The players, the fans, the directors. The patience of the latter might be about to get sorely tested.
The supporters appear split, with some willing to give the new man the benefit of the doubt a while longer, others have already had their fill.
It’s the players, however, who could be the real issue for the new manager. They are clearly having difficulty adjusting, perhaps in believing.
If they’re not buying what he’s selling, no amount of coaxing and cajoling will turn things around quickly enough.
We’re about to find how just how good a manager of men Nancy is.
