“I only have 13 practices with my team, usually we have four weeks of preseason.” That’s what Wilfried Nancy said on Friday, before the weekend’s capitulation at Celtic Park. He added, “It’s totally normal that my players need a bit of time, it’s totally normal that my players could be confused at certain moments.”
The Gods of XG back up Wilfried’s belief that Celtic have been unfortunate in not picking up more points than they did. The defeat to Hearts falls into that category, but the second half turnaround by Dundee United and Newco, and entirely inept performances against St Mirren and Motherwell, deserved nothing better.
“New players, a bit of time” – elements the manager suggests will help. True. Spending many millions on players to beat St Mirren and Motherwell will almost certainly work. This is Scottish football. Read the Uefa league tables, if you want to check the standard. Our player stock is already vastly superior to anything most of our opponents can acquire, adding even more £1m salaried pros will inevitably help.
We can agree that without a preseason to practice, it is normal that players look as confused as they appear to be. The concern many have expressed, is why, when the required practice time was not available, or the squad not suitable, did we cast off in this direction?
My suspicion is, Wilfried looked at our history of winning practically everything, and perhaps the Uefa tables, and thought, “We’ve got this”. He surely did not expect Motherwell’s new manager to win so comfortably at home to Celtic.
Five weeks into the job, it is too late for the manager to revert to the system Martin O’Neill used to get Celtic consistently over the line (and little more). Wilfried’s reputation has been staked on this being the correct path. He will continue until it works or he is relieved of his duties. To be fair to Wilfried, this is probably the only way he knows to win, so he has no choice.
You and I have no experience of defeats arriving at this rate, so the impact is bound to be profound. That we are here due to a tactical change which has not had the required practice, points to poor decision making.
At that presser on Friday, Wilfried said, “Do your job”. The lad is bold, if nothing else. Having the best plan in the world is worth nothing if you allow the foundations to burn around you. It is time to get the job done, Wilfried.
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MON 37 days
Nancy 33 days
We live in interesting times. Our board & haste, wow, every day’s a school day.
Get Batistuta as player manager.
At least we’d have a striker.
the Bada Bing on 5th January 2026 3:51 pm
I think that’s easy enough – as we have not started looking yet !!!!
67ECW
The long wait is over….the rebels (masses-B78) have won.
ROUND YE ya board apologist.
Cue the question, so who would you sign, bring in….boring.
D. :)
Mullet
BR won’t be compensated and if anything we might be in credit on that entire scenario in months to come and PT / WN and staff pay off will not be much into 7 figures.
Tom McLaughlin
As you said credit DD for speaking face to face with Nancy. Like bringing Rodgers back and getting utterly shafted by him, this mistake was entirely down to the largest shareholder. Until days before he was announced others on the board we opposed to the appointment, or the timing.
This explains DD owning it today but it doesn’t excuse him. It also shows the divide which exists sadly. PL gone but it really is a shambles. The toxicity around the whole set up hasn’t left. As Greenpinata suggested restoring some form of connection is as much a priority as winning. That said winning will help achieve that I think.
The football part of the club has been hollowed out both on and off the pitch, what a fuck up.
How about?…
MON & SM to pick up the reins for now.
[Braga or Shankland] to weaken the main challengers and give us someone who can put the ball in the net, plus Bowie as a second CF.
Knutsen in from Easter in a background role to familiarise himself with the environment and squad, and to analyse and assess needs for next season including summer transfer targets.
Knutsen taking over full control from the end of this season.
Alternative plans on a postcard please to Celtic Park, G40 3RE.
The overriding feeling is relief….pure and utter relief
Who knows where we go from here….but a back 4 please
BURNLEY78, it will be in the accounts and then there will be no doubt.
Upon Nancy’s official appointment in early December 2025, Nicholson made the following key points:
Top Target: Nicholson stated, “We have been aware of Wilfried and his quality of work for some time – he was our number one candidate when we began the process of appointing a new Manager, and we are delighted that he has agreed to join the club”.
Commitment to Support: He emphasized the board would give Nancy “every support to face the challenges ahead,” with the aim of delivering success for the supporters.
Long-term Project: Nicholson outlined a long-term vision, mentioning plans for recruitment in both the upcoming January and summer transfer windows to support the new manager’s “project”.
Excitement: He expressed that the club was “delighted to welcome Wilfried” and that Nancy was “hugely excited” about the opportunity.
next for the p45 please
then McKay…
We have 75 million in the bank…. that we cant spend.
But here, dont tell anyone i told you this, we have 75 million in the bank
…. but we cant spend it.
Tye best run club in the world with 75 million in the bank. What do you mean were a shambles? Did you not here what i just said? We have 75 million in the bank.
That you cannot fkkn spend.
Ps we have…
shut the fk up. You cant spent it
Anyone thinking this has cost celtic millions needs sectioned
WN was on 300k a year at C Crew
We might have doubled his wages ( might)
I heard that total pay offs was 1.2 million ( nit counting Dr Dolittle)
Wilfried Nancy breaks another Celtic record, becoming the shortest serving manager in the club’s long history (stated in an earlier post – I haven’t fact checked this). Thankfully this will be the last Celtic record set by Wilfried Nancy!
DAVID66 on 5TH JANUARY 2026 4:38 PM
The long wait is over….the rebels (masses-B78) have won.
ROUND YE ya board apologist.
——-
You had me scrolling back there to see what I’d said to be labelled a board apologist !
;-)
So Wilfried and the monorail salesman Tisdale is no more. Thank eff.
Maloney and MoN in now please till the end of season.
New CEO to commence football department hirings in the summer.
We’ve given ourselves a chance this evening. I think we’ll just about get the job done.
The team is still a bit lacking in firepower so we shouldn’t expect miracles under a new regime. Hopefully we’ll be much much better and get some good players in this window.
I think after getting his fingers burnt twice by BR DD put a ceiling on the wages to be paid on the next HC/Manager. So we probably were out of the running for an A1 level guy, hence why we fished in the MLS, por cierto.
Mon return has a degree of short term thinking and desperation about it. He won but we wondered how long that would continue since we didn’t play chance creating football and got lucky at times.
I agree with earlier post – we need to think long term even if it risks this season. Signing players this window is absolutely vital and they need to fit direction of the club.
If the Motherwell manager can get a squad (he rotates often) playing like pass masters – I wonder what he can do with even better players.
Sometimes the answer is right in front of of your eyes – call it fate.
Next manager will confirm DD has woken up and ready to get serious again . . . . or not.
Wonder if his Irish rolodex is sitting at K for Keane?
Or if his “all others” one is being dusted down.
POR CIERTO on 5TH JANUARY 2026 4:58 PM – pay peanuts and all that.
I’m all for a balanced squad that includes young players for development/projects, but as we have seen, the manager should never, ever be a project.
Rod Stewart has made a statement
If Celtic won against Motherwell, there manager wouldn’t have been mentioned on here as the Next Celtic Coach ,
Tonight’s the Night, it’s going to be all right.
The US markets are reacting very well to the Nancy news
I will say once again…all self inflicted….we were a good striker and right winger away from dominating another season, keeping a ferocious winner as manager and another 40 million in the bank
Instead we got politics…not backing the manager as a GIRUY, spending 13 million on ten players at an average of 1.3 million and hoping it would sicken him
A shambles of a transfer window which left the club humiliated the support raging and the manager ready to chuck it
When the manager does eventually chuck it we get probably the ill fitting person you could imagine. Someone with obviously no knowledge of the Scottish game…no knowledge of how teams play…how brutal the game could be ….but somehow people thought this was a good fit ( some will undoubtedly still say it pointing to XG )
Only celtic could take a double barrel shotgun to their own head !!!
First thing is to give Celtic credit for stopping the bleeding. I am surprised because I was certain they wouldn’t ‘give in to the mob’.
Nancy was an unbelievably terrible manager but Tisdale was the real poison. A southern spiv with all the credentials and charisma of a slithering snake. Hopefully he can find employment now at one of Europe’s top one hundred clubs… Bullshitter prick.
However…
The appointment of Nancy based on the misplaced trust in Tisdale has cost Celtic how much in compensation and contractual pay offs?
It has also taken a wrecking ball to an already fragile season.
It is impossible to overstate how catastrophic a decision this was and those responsible MUST be held to account or the wounds will just fester and the damage intensify.
Who made the decision to appoint Nancy and on what basis? What due diligence was undertaken?
Who empowered Tisdale to become the Head of Football Operations? On what basis and what due diligence was undertaken?
This is our money they’ve spunked up against the wall, alongside our hopes and dreams. They have delivered a calamitous collapse from a position of overwhelming strength. We need to understand how that happened and how it will be stopped from happening again.
And I remind you, the useless articles responsible for this calamity continue to be remunerated at eye-watering levels and drip in hubris and self-regard. Like hedge fund bankers in 2008 there is moral hazard at play here because there are no consequences for those responsible.
Nicholson and McKay should go on the back of this. If they don’t they will carry the stain of this failure for the remainder of their tenure at our great club.
Bastards.
🎶 It’s only Maloney 🎶
Roy Orbison
TIMBHOY163 – Wrong. A few have mentioned him on here in weeks gone by as one to keep an eye on. Motherwell have been playing good football this season, if a bit high risk at times. He is another disciple of playing out from the back.
I suspect the Big Dog needs to rectify his mistakes and get a top manager , my money would be on Roberto Martinez after the World Cup , with Shaun holding the jackets until then. Possible upstairs role for Martin in the short term.
HH
thanks for listening to our prayers connaire 12
Those on the board are bad for business.
B78 @4.38pm
Helpful post. Confirms where ultimate responsibility lies.
Ekbhoy
Martinez is a serial underachiever
Section111 on 5th January 2026 3:27 pm
SAINT STIVS on 5TH JANUARY 2026 3:08 PM
Section111 on 5th January 2026 2:01 pm
The accounts overdue as well, just can’t quite figure out why that could be?
World class in everything we do though.
Hedge Fund CSC
————–
what axxounts are over due ? what has a hedge fund got to do with anything ?
Open your eyes mate
—————-
Interim accounts for the half year period , 6 months to 31st December, are filed usually 2nd or 3rd week in february.
nothing to see.
and as an aside, I bet they still have 70m in the bank.
a consequence of not having champions league, they aint paying out any bonuses.
and same for league for 6 defeats so far, that is achunk of wages saved.
Wonder if we had any MLS signings near completion? It was the one area of Nancy’s job I thought might throw up something positive.
GENE on 5TH JANUARY 2026 5:28 PM
Ekbhoy
Martinez is a serial underachiever
….
But he has a Scottish wife , from Busby (?)
HH