AFTER six defeats in eight games since Wilfried Nancy arrived, Celtic are in freefall.
It was evident again at the weekend when the champions blew a half-time advantage to slump to an embarrassing 3-1 derby loss.
The manager and the players had to run the gauntlet as the patience of the fans snapped in vociferous fashion.
When Nancy took over early last month, he had the opportunity to lead the Hoops to the Premiership pinnacle with a three-point advantage. It required a win over Hearts at Parkhead on December 7 to hoist the team to the summit.
Instead, the hosts stumbled their way through a wretched performance as they lost 2-1 in front of their bewildered supporters.
Today, with 18 league games to play, they trail the Edinburgh side by six points.
SHATTERED…Luke McCowan stares in disbelief as Celtic continue to lose games.
Brendan Rodgers suffered two reverses – against Dundee at Dens Park and Hearts at Tynecastle – before his hasty departure in late October while interim gaffer Martin O’Neill produced five successive victories during his short period.
Nancy has shed TWELVE points in his six Premiership outings and there are grave concerns over his future with Dundee United due to provide the opposition in the east end of Glasgow on Saturday.
In the fall-out of another depressing result, midfielder-cum-makeshift-wing-back Luke McCowan asked: “When has it ever been this bad? It’s never.
“You’re asking fans to react to something for the first time they’re seeing it and us, as players, for the first time we’re feeling it.
“It’s not nice. I’ll tell you that as a player’s perspective. It doesn’t leave you. It haunts you every minute of every day when you’re not winning.
“Getting home, not speaking to anybody, sitting on the couch, not moving, just doing that black screen instead of having the darts or having the football highlights on.
“But, as I said, that is what it comes with playing with Celtic. You need to take that pressure on. You need to get there. You need to show personality and at times within games, we’ve not done that well enough.
“We need to stick together and keep going.”
After league losses to Hearts, Dundee United and Motherwell, it was imperative Celtic stopped the rot against Danny Rohl’s Ibrox outfit.
WINNERS AND LOSERS…Danny Rohl celebrates while Wilfried Nancy can’t bear to look.
A wonder goal from Yang Hyun-jun gave the champions the half-time advantage, but misses, notably from Auston Trusty with a six-yard header wide of the target, and Johnny Kenny with a close-range drive that hit the keeper, came back to bite them in the second period.
Defensive lapses allowed the visitors to score three times by the 71st minute and that was the signal for some home fans to head for the exits.
McCowan, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “Rangers changed their shape and we didn’t react well enough.
“We just aren’t reacting to it as well as we should be. It’s just not good enough.
“I’m probably going to say that at least 20 times in these interviews, but it needs to be better.
“Rangers can’t be coming here and winning 3-1. It’s just not good enough.”
To find any other run even comparable to the one Nancy is enduring at the moment, you have to look back to the days of the ill-fated Tony Mowbray in 2009/10. That ended with an unacceptable 4-0 hiding from St Mirren in Paisley.
However, despite being sacked the following day, the club’s former centre-half had lost only three of 10 league games.
The Englishman finished with a win rate of 51 per cent. Even John Barnes won 66 per cent of his matches in 1999/2000 before he received his P45.
In 1995, the team finished fourth before Wim Jansen led them to their first title in a decade four years later.
That triumph turned the tide and Celtic have picked up 43 honours in the 21st Century while lifting thirteen of the last 14 championships.
If the situation does do not change swiftly, there won’t be a fourteenth flag at the end of this campaign.
WANT TO KNOW A SECRET? Celtic Confidential is the stunning new book that brings the exclusive inside stories behind the headlines. Alex Gordon’s sixteenth Celtic book is available NOW. Order a copy and get £5 OFF the cover price of £25. All is revealed in a sensational new publication. Just click SHOP HERE and your book will be on its way. Happy reading!
