Wilfried Nancy is already weathering a storm at Celtic.
Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final was a new low for the Hoops’ season, which has already pushed fans’ patience to a breaking point.
Martin O’Neill saved the team when he came in on an interim basis, winning seven of his eight matches. But when Nancy came in to replace him ahead of the biggest week of the season, the club were taking a clear risk.
In the short-term, Celtic have royally paid for that risk, losing the chance to return to the top of the league and losing the first cup final of the season.
Fans are understandably unhappy, and club hero Frank McAvennie is aiming his anger at the manager.
Does Wilfried Nancy have the belief of the Celtic players?
Credit: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
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Frank McAvennie on Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy
Nancy’s instant change to a 3-4-3 with a team which had been winning with a back four has made for a rough transition.
The 48-year-old does, however, play this down in interviews, assuring that he has simply introduced ‘nuances’ to the team’s football.
READ MORE: Rod Stewart claims Celtic players can’t understand Wilfried Nancy in ‘raging’ blast
Frank McAvennie – Credit: Let Me Be Frank podcast
But for McAvennie, speaking on his Let Me Be Frank podcast, Nancy is overloading the Celtic players.
“A lot of supporters are saying to me, ‘Give him a chance’ – but then, when he didn’t speak to Martin O’Neill, get him to…
“And I’m thinking: if he’s got that kind of arrogance, I can imagine, in the dressing room, him filling these boys full of…
“Can I just say something? Football is easy. Football’s the hardest game in the world according to a coach. But football’s the easiest game in the world.
“You get the ball down, and you pass it to your pals. It’s a simple game. All this ‘zonal this and zonal that’. B——s.
“All you need to do when you go out on a Saturday is: ‘The guy you’re playing against, win the battle’. And then everything takes care of itself.
“The game’s easy. Don’t fill their head full of c–p. Where they should be, where they should run. What happens when the ball’s going that way, and you’re going the other way?
“Callum McGregor should be talking to the players. The manager should let Callum McGregor talk to the players and sort it out.
“He shouldn’t be shouting at him and telling him. I seen Callum shaking his head at one point. I don’t know if he doesn’t understand him, but he’s giving it this about tactics.
“And I’m going: really? He’s played that many games, and he’s nagging him. Three times, he called him over.”
Wilfried Nancy posts diagram about control on X (formerly twitter)
Wilfried Nancy’s surprise post, via X
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What else is being said about Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy?
Rod Stewart thinks the Celtic players can’t understand Nancy, saying he is ‘raging’ at what has happened since O’Neill’s departure.
Man United legend Nicky Butt has slated Nancy’s ‘madness’ after ‘following a legend’ in O’Neill. Clearly, the comparison is damning.
Chris Sutton thinks that Nancy’s results have been ‘inevitable’, insisting that Nancy can’t be properly judged until January.
But Sutton is certainly in the minority, by the looks of things.
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