“I really believe we can turn things around,” Wilfried Nancy declared after watching his Celtic side tumble to a 3–1 defeat against hated Glasgow rivals Rangers on Saturday, the club’s sixth loss in eight games under the French coach. “We are together with the board.”
Within 48 hours, that same board announced Nancy’s sacking.
“Celtic Football Club today announces that it has decided to terminate the contract of manager Wilfried Nancy, with immediate effect,” a brief, scathing statement read. “Wilfried’s assistants, Kwame Ampadu, Jules Gueguen, and Maxime Chalier, will also be leaving the club and they take with them our good wishes.”
In an acknowledgement that Celtic’s demise had not been all Nancy’s doing, Celtic’s head of football operations Paul Tisdale also parted ways on the same day.
Less than 14 months ago, Nancy was crowned MLS Coach of the Year. Following on from Columbus Crew’s triumph in the 2023 MLS Cup, the experimental tactician led his side to the 2024 Leagues Cup title and the final of that year’s Concacaf Champions Cup. Nancy had already forged a rich reputation for himself at CF Montréal, where he led the Canadian outfit to the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals after a second-place regular season finish.
His standing at Celtic won’t be quite so esteemed.
Nancy’s Celtic Career in Numbers
| Statistic (All Comps) | Value |
|---|---|
| Games | 8 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Draws | 0 |
| Losses | 6 |
| Goals Scored | 11 |
| Goals Conceded | 18 |
One Record Low After Another for Nancy at Celtic
“When has it ever been this bad?” the visibly stunned Celtic midfielder Luke McCowan asked himself after Saturday’s Old Firm derby defeat to Rangers. “Never” was the correct answer he gave.
Following the mid-season departure of Brendan Rodgers, returning hero Martin O’Neill took over for an eight-game interim spell. The 73-year-old had not managed any club for more than half a decade yet conspired to win seven of his eight matches at the helm. Incredibly, Nancy lasted just as many games, collecting two wins and six defeats.
No permanent manager in Celtic’s 139-year history has ever been afforded a single-digit tally of matches. John Barnes held the previous low of 29 games during a ruinous spell between June 1999–February 2000. That Nancy lasted as long as he did was a surprise in some quarters.
The 48-year-old, who signed a two-and-a-half year contract when he was appointed on Dec. 8, became the first Celtic manager to ever lose his first two matches. A defeat to St Mirren in the Scottish League Cup final extended the losing sequence before Dundee United twisted the knife with a fourth straight loss.
Nancy’s only triumphs came at home to Aberdeen and away to rock-bottom Livingston, who still scored twice in a 4–2 reverse.
The overriding theme of Nancy’s tenure was a state of perennial openness spawned from his unique playing style. “You’re going to have to forget how you were taught to play, to a certain degree,” Celtic defender Alistair Johnston warned his teammates after overlapping with Nancy in Montréal. After shipping 18 goals in eight games, it appears they were never taught the new method.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Former MLS Coach of the Year Condemned to Humiliating European Sacking.
