von Dinamo Baden » Do 14. Mai 2026, 13:23
Celtic flop manager TEARS into Celtic players, indirectly calls them WEAK-MINDED in Viral Interview thatâs just dropped 10 hours after VAR Controversy at Fir Park thatâs caused CHAOS in Scottish Football
Wilfried Nancy has claimed his Celtic players struggled to step outside their comfort zone under his leadership, insisting his much-criticised philosophy went âbeyond winning.â
However, the French coach maintains his short-lived 33-day spell at Parkhead was still a âbeautiful experience,â even if it may have arrived at the wrong time in his career.
The former Columbus Crew manager replaced Brendan Rodgers after Martin OâNeill had initially stepped in on an interim basis.
But just two victories and four defeats in six Premiership matches, along with a Premier Sports Cup Final loss to St Mirren, forced the Celtic hierarchy to abandon the project and turn back to OâNeill in an emergency return.
That decision could yet prove decisive, with Celtic now set for a title decider against Hearts on the final day of the season.
Things almost unravelled completely under Nancy, who believes parts of the squad were hesitant to fully buy into his ideas.
âWhen I was at Celtic, I had discussions with many players. They wanted to know when I have the ball,â he told Training Ground Guru.
âSo lets say my number six has the ball, they want to know if we play with a 4-3-3, I want to know that the name of my number eight should be there and my number 10 in this position.
âAnd I said okay, this gives you safety. But I donât mind about the name. I mind about how you are going to connect with the players around you.
âAnd this could be difficult with people who donât want to get out of their comfort zone. Theyâre struggling a bit with that.
âNo coach, I want to play one-touch, two-touch football. No, sometimes you have to take ten touches. âYeah but Iâm not confident with that.â
âThis is my job to show them video and picture of themself on the pitch, discussion and create exercise for them to express and try things. To show them that it works.
âThereâs the voice behind you that is saying if this fails, itâs on you if you make a mistake. Thatâs why itâs going beyond winning.â
The Frenchman explained that he was brought in specifically to reshape Celticâs playing identity BECAUSE of his footballing principles.
But he accepts results meant he was not given enough time to fully implement his vision: âCeltic hired me to change that. Iâm not a conservative coach, thatâs why they hired me.
âWe had a plan, everything was clear because I did my due diligence.
âBut after that, the pressure, we still had everything in our hands to change things and adjust.
âMy idea was not to change everything, itâs impossible. Iâm not stupid to come and change everything.
âThe idea was to bring something new step by step, or something different.
âBut after that, pressure, and it is so huge, thatâs why what happened, happened.
âThe support I had from the chairman and everyone was huge. But after that, there are results, and we know in our job that itâs difficult if we donât include them.
âFootball is irrational sometimes, so itâs a no brainer to say I didnât have enough time.â
Despite everything, Nancy insists he holds no regrets.
He added: âHonestly, it was a beautiful experience because first of all, you have the passion,â he said. âI do my job with passion.
âThatâs why I love my job and Iâm looking for a player to play with passion. In this club and the fans and the city, we can feel it.
âItâs been amazing for that.
âObviously things could have been better but life is about moments. The moment when I went there, with reflection, was maybe not the good moment.
âThe Celtic brand, this is something that I like a lot. Thatâs why I wanted to go over there, despite the fact that I had many opportunities, with a lot of humility, with different clubs.
âThatâs why I put everything into perspective. After that, the pressure is the pressure and they changed their mind.
âBut I spent a really, really good time over there.
âI didnât have enough time to put the way I coach, the way I do things. But this is the way it is.
âI have no bad words regarding what happened over there. Itâs part of my journey.â
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
âWithout fans who pay at the turnstile, football is nothing. Sometimes we are inclined to forget that. The only chance of bringing them into stadiums is if they are entertained by what happens on the football field.â
Jock Stein