St Mirren, who are ninth in the Premiership controlled yesterday’s Scottish League Cup Final and won the trophy with an historic and deserved 3-1 victory. Celtic had the bulk of possession but were unable to turn that into enough chances to deserve anything more from the game.
For the third game in succession Celtic went behind from the first corner they had to defend in the game. That weakness was a painful feature of the Covid season is back. Those who successfully campaigned for a return to four at the back will have to contemplate the fact that the defensive formation is well down the list of problems Celtic have. Celtic were exposed at the back throughout the game, St Mirren had more shots on target and more attempts from inside the box, measures of which team was always more likely to score.
For the 35 minutes he was on, Kelechi Iheanacho gave Celtic a taste of what an effective striker can bring to a team. The recurrence of the hamstring injury which has limited him to fewer than 90 minutes since October cast a long shadow over an already dark day.
The performance was consistent with so many this year. When pressed one-on-one, Celtic players get rid of the ball quickly – and often backwards. Reo Hatate was the only one who took the ball in and attempted to get past his man. Without taking any opponents out of the game, there are no options for a forward pass.
In the hierarchy of responsibility, Wilfried Nancy has to take his share, but he is not at the top. The squad is not up to the task and needs a radical overhaul. Such an overwhelming reluctance to take responsibility on the ball indicated they are playing without confidence. Who can blame them? Managers have come and gone, one having publicly undermined them, while the feedback loop when a ball is mis controlled or a pass goes astray would have the best of us hiding on the field.
The challenge facing the new manager is significant. He needs to restore confidence to a squad who look shattered, impose a tactical regime which creates chances and fortified the defence, while nurturing the most fragile collection of hamstring muscles in sport.
You and I laughed at Newco fans who were so unable to cope with defeats they hounded a succession of managers out Ibrox and made the job toxic. That’s not how we fix this problem. The man needs our support right now as do his players.
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There was a French coach called Nancy,
Who didn’t tickle many folks fancy.
He played a back three which was chancy,
Asking Scales to play passing fancy.
Is he now on borrowed currency.
Ps Happy Monday.
“In the hierarchy of responsibility, Wilfried Nancy has to take his share, but he is not at the top.”
Name and perhaps shame? Put the blame where it belongs which is at the very top of the tree.
You and I laughed at Newco fans who were so unable to cope with defeats they hounded a succession of managers out Ibrox and made the job toxic. That’s not how we fix this problem. The man needs our support right now as do his players.
——
And there’s the downgrading of expectations and standards at Celtic.
Shut up and accept getting pumped by St Mirren.
Write off the season.
Interesting comments this morning from M O’N on talksport. Basically that he only had a 10 minute conversation with Nancy as he didn’t ask for any advice on the players as he had his own ideas on how he wanted to play
Sack him now , I’ve seen enough of this guy to conclude he is not restoring confidence in any player or will gain it from the support.Why are we looking at Sevco on this we need to deal with our own problems now,I wouldn’t spend a penny on anything Tidsdale recommends he needs to go too along with the Execs who conducted the interview, if he got one.
Dig at BR – check
Dig at the fans- check
Any questioning of the new mgr recruitment or timing of his appointment into live – nope
Pretty poor article. If that reflects the mood of anyone in the club, we’ve not reached the bottom of the curve yet.
So Paul, the squad’s confidence or composure was waning with BR yet had been restored under Martin.
But it’s now newly shot under the weight of Wilf’s fresh new formation/deformation.
But you simply manage to squeeze a pop in about Brendan who’s been out the building for months.
Yet nada about the well-heeled exec cockwombles sneering at fans, failing to upgrade the squad you say is so depleted and are captaining this rudderless floater ?
OnBrand CQN
“The performance was consistent with so many this year. ”
No it wasn’t, that performance yesterday was right off the Richter scale.
I still have visions of Scales booming down the wing, leaving a hugh hole behind to be exploited!
It’s so efin obvious that he has lost the dressing room, there is no coming back from that, I have been watching football for more than 60 years and have NEVER seen any manager coming back from losing the players, Never.
” Managers have come and gone, one having publicly undermined them, while the feedback loop when a ball is mis controlled or a pass goes astray would have the best of us hiding on the field.
.
.
.
You and I laughed at Newco fans who were so unable to cope with defeats they hounded a succession of managers out Ibrox and made the job toxic. That’s not how we fix this problem. The man needs our support right now as do his players.”
Once again a veiled dig at BR and the fans followed up by call for unity. Most people want unity, this kind of communication does not help us in achieving that goal.
The players need our support as does the manager.
The big difference is the manager shows absolutely no signs of listening or learning, and if can’t master those skills he needs to depart.
A wee bit of humility would go a long way
You need to give him time Paul67 because you and our Board would rather Celtic suffer than you be wrong
We have made a mistake
The brave action is to fix it
67ECW
Nice try.
Sack him now.
“In the hierarchy of responsibility, Wilfried Nancy has to take his share, but he is not at the top.
Fholk talk about how difficult the timing was from Wilfried, yet look at it another way – WN had three opportunities to make an name from himself from the off…
Win at Hearts – joint top, game in hand.
Result v Roma, big plus for a Euro beginner
Win v St Mirren, winning a Cup
St Mirren was arguably the biggest reward and the easiest of those matches.
This failure is a literal game changer.
A caveat, I really like the way Wilfried Nancy approached coaching.
After the Hearts game in a media presser when asked about the challenge of getting his ideas across
He he had a great response…
…”First of all, for me this is amazing, because as a coach my job is to find solutions, and after that it’s to prioritise…”
Later he was asked to expand on that and he stated…
“…“My priority is to be coherent with what I believe that we can do to maximise our chance to win. This is that. After that, I have a long list like that, and the idea is to assess the player that I have, assess the context, assess the fact that we’ve been together only for one week and after that I have to prioritise…
…an example, an exercise that I like to do with 0 to 10, 10 in terms of complexity, I will not do it. I will do it only the five.”
That sounds great, he sees where the players are, say five, then looks at incremental improvement to get them to ten.
Yet here is the issue, if the team are playing his system at a five, they will get outplayed by Hearts, blootered by Roma and bested by St Mirren.
So his priorities are wrong, getting the team to play his system, and his solution is wrong, play the system at 50% and incrementally improve!?
He does not have that time, he will not be given the time to bring the team from level five to level eight, where they need to be to win domestic silverware and compete in Europe.
He does not have the players to execute his plans, Tounekti and Yang will always be 5/10 wing backs, Ralston a 5/10 RCB etc…
So, to get in the players he needs and incrementally improve how the rest are playing the system the end of January is realistic.
Yet, that only gets him to ground zero…
He then has to get the team working as a unit and improving even more, the end of February is now looking like a realistic timeline for Wilfball…
So any talk of a pragmatic approach was just that, talk – if he was being pragmatic MO’Nball was the way to kick things off – a huge rethink is now the order of the day…
The hierarchy of responsibily…
First and foremost…
Our Chairman – he has form on this, this is on him
Next out CEO – he is a Lawyer on a salary and head of legal, stop pretending he is an Executive
Next Dr T, obviously a mover and shaker that put the “T” in toxic.
Hail Hail
There’s a telling hypocrisy at play.
The statement, “The squad is not up to the task and needs a radical overhaul,” is now presented as necessary truth.
When uttered by a past manager, however, those identical words were dismissed as “sowing discontent.”
This is nothing less than the narrative being bent to suit the moment.
We see you.
What an absolutely gutless piece that is.
Problems start at the top, but not a single name floated as to who is to blame except Rodgers.
And the comparison with the club at Ibrox again … you know what? I am sick and tired of everything we do being compared to the state of them. “Do we really want to end up like Ibrox?” is the reason we HAVE ended up like Ibrox, lurching from one crisis to another.
Of all the reasons NOT to act, that is the weakest and stupidest.
That article sums up this site. Out of touch to a degree almost beyond belief.
It’s absolutely a return to the Covid season
This blog facilitated the write off of that season by refusing to state the obvious – our manager was failing.
It appears that Paul and no doubt this board will accept the loss of this league title rather than admit they called it wrong. Covid season 2.0
Henry Winter@henrywinter
Wilfried Nancy talks about “self-doubt” inhibiting Celtic players. A flaw exposed under pressure is a frailty that good managers dispel through their own words, strength of personality and clarity of tactical demands. This is not a call for Martin O’Neill’s recall to the Celtic dug-out but simply another reminder of his ability to inspire people.
It’s hard to imagine Celtic leaving their dressing-room to play in the Scottish League Cup final lacking belief if O’Neill were still interim manager. Because of his passion, especially for Celtic, O’Neill filled players with belief, not only when charging into the fray but during the game, too.
The hugely impressive Stephen Robinson did this with his St Mirren players, who he made even more fearless at Hampden (and gave even more belief with his tactical adeptness). His players believed in themselves, in each other and in Robinson’s approach and smart game-management. They had a belief that Celtic lacked. Nancy’s players looked increasingly confused and dispirited, full of doubt in the system and in themselves.
Nancy inherited a squad with deficiencies at a club divided between board and fanbase. For all his admired work in MLS, Nancy is unproven at this level and at a club with this intense level of scrutiny. He needs time – and a transfer window – to be judged properly but this is Celtic, one of the most famous clubs in the world. Three defeats on the spin is unacceptable. Nancy certainly should have waited until the January window before attempting to implement his style. He also needs to exude more positivity about his players. As O’Neill did.
O’Neill’s charisma and positivity reinvigorated the players and brought temporary respite in the off-field tension. Seven wins out of eight. For O’Neill, working for Celtic was an honour, not a job. He made players feel that, too. He made them believe. Nancy has to focus on doing the same, no doubt.
The problems started when we let Kwon go
THE EXILED TIM on 15th December 2025 12:12 pm
It’s so efin obvious that he has lost the dressing room, there is no coming back from that, I have been watching football for more than 60 years and have NEVER seen any manager coming back from losing the players, Never
======
Lost?
I’d suggest he’s not had the time to have found them in the first place rather than to have lost them.
I absolutely have major doubts as to whether he will work out but the most immediately obvious error, for me , is the club not having Martin O’Neill and his interim team stay on for at least three , if not four, more games, given how good their results , if not always the performances, generally were. From MON’s own words this morning it seems the option wasn’t even put to him.
There may have been apparently good reasons internally for that not to happen – we will never really know I suspect – but, albeit with the benefit of hindsight, it sure looks like a colossal error.
We were here 5 years ago when Ange came in and rescued the board.
Incompetence — yet the lackey tries to put it on Rodgers when the movie repeat plays.
90% + know it’s the Board and want Lawwell, Nicholson, Tisdale gone.
95%+ including players want Nancy gone.
Make the change now or we lost the title.
The support is going to judge these parasites badly.
Asking the fans to get behind the manager is pretty pointless when he doesn’t have the players on his side.
Comical Ali is alive and well
Broadsword calling Danny boy
Broadsword calling Danny boy
I see no tanks 🧐🤓
Listening to many fans at the game yesterday there was an acceptance the playing squad is nowhere near good enough to play consistently good football, several years of mis management by the board/recruitment team has resulted in the much celebrated sales of key players and the replacement of them with mediocre lightweight ones. Several pointed to the MON games and that we won BUT some of the performances were really poor. MON was a short term appointment and he got results with a couple of good performances showing how important the manager is at the football club. The MOST important person which is why you take the job seriously. NANCY was not a serious appointment. Like Ronny D 10 years ago. However, he has been appointed so Paul you suggest we get behind him. I can say that the last three games have shown what the fans think. They flooded out of CP on Sunday and Thursday and had little to say yesterday at Hampden. There is no belief in the man nor those overseeing his appointment. Our whole CLUB is in disarray and change is needed NOW. Nancy is a poor communicator as we can all see from TV interviews and the players don’t know what he wants. TIME will only make it worse. We will be lucky to be only 10 points behind Hearts come January 4th 2026.
Be bold. Be brave. Relieve the man of the role today. There is far too much talk on these pages and others about beautiful football and Reo Hatate somehow gets a pass. If you breathe on him he falls over. Him, Nygren, Tounekti, Maeda to name players that can not handle ANY physical contact and just want a free kick. MON made changes and dropped some of those players.
We need a clear out of at least 60% of these players, an emergency meeting at boardroom where they actually show leadership and bring in players fit to wear a Celtic jersey. Our manager is out of his depth but so are some of these players. Backing a manager that has no chance of turning this around is throwing good money after bad.
CHANGE today or we will see a trophyless season, a possible third placed finish and even worse, next season could see us too far behind.
Next out CEO – he is a Lawyer on a salary and head of legal, stop pretending he is an Executive
=====
Nailed it.
Last comment was for Chairbhoy
Well given that none of the malcontents shouting abuse for most of 99 minutes yesterday has actually offered a single positive proposal …… never mind one which could give us a better return than 16 out of 20 league wins then I really don’t know where this is headed.
A lot of miserable entitled behaviour magnifying our problems and manifesting negativity but with zero solutions offered by these geniuses other than pathetic sack the board shite.
I get many here are now happy hunterlopers and many are bitter types and a few genuinely loved BR and can’t accept he was a devious sort who really was batting for BR alone but for goodness sake surely a manager who takes on a role mid season with the shambles we are in in terms of squad depth / injuries and confidence deserves some time to breathe and at least a window to pull it together. Plus some backing.
The salivating crowd itching to abuse our own at Hampden was a sad reflection of society today and of our fan base. Intolerant of a single mistake. My god our fans at Hampden yesterday must have been some players in their time.
Mind you the Arsenal fans were booing their lot at HT and after 93 mins on Saturday. Maybe it is that folk place so much on their teams to compensate for other life issues ? Who knows. It’s not fun though.
It also really doesn’t help get results.
Regardless of where he sits in the hierarchy of responsibility, there are serious question marks over his judgment.
Rage bait from the usual source or sources
Are you on commission from Paul67 ?
Interesting take.
I seem to mind Nancy getting all flappy winged at scales was he breeding calm confidence there?
The guys come in and poured petrol on it.
How much has this mistake cost us after appointing Rodgers twice – that was the board wasn’t it? I mean Rodgers didn’t don a Harry Potter invisible cloak a juke in?
Nancy is Mowbray and Deila in one.
Europe is on the slates here if this goes past January
The long wait is over @ 12:51 pm,
Quite simply, as you know, there is not a person in our Board or Executive that understands football or the industry.
If we leave it long enough our trailblazing Head of Football will have us at the dizzy heights of Exeter City.
Hail Hail
Lucky Cody
You really think what happens next for us will deliver better than 16 league wins out of 20 ?
I would bet you any money and I mean any money you care to suggest that we won’t do better in trophies won / leagues won or European performance than we have seen this past 20 years 2025/6 to 2044/5 compared to 2005/6 to 2024/5.
This blog was still in denial that Rodgers was getting a go again on the day he was appointed claiming he was connected to get a move to another club!
Maybe he will get us back in profit now by taking out our Captain and Tierney. Maybe a few others will head to Saudi eh?
What an absolute travesty of mismanagement
Lionroars67
Were you proud of the so called support yesterday ?
On a serious note
Given the groundswell of our clubs problems are growing with each passing defeat I would ask a simple question :
Do you really think the impact of all this protest crap with zero solutions offered is going to move us forward ?
Let’s say 20 years from now will we be looking back at a more successful club than we have had this past 20 years and be proud of the role this mob have played ?