Chris Sutton has claimed that Wilfried Nancy’s way is not working at Celtic while describing them as a “third-placed team” as they slumped to a fourth consecutive defeat against Dundee United.
The result means the Hoops are in their worst losing run of form since 1978, and has led to increasing pressure on Nancy to be replaced despite only being appointed as Brendan Rodgers’ successor just two weeks ago.
Despite having sympathy for the environment Nancy has walked into, which now includes chairman Peter Lawwell stepping down from the club’s board due to “abuse and threats”, Sutton conceded that the Frenchman’s way is not having the desired impact.
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“I have massive sympathy for him,” Sutton said. “Celtic aren’t in pre-season and if Nancy had a whole pre-season you can maybe see things panning out differently.
“He hasn’t got that. He’s saying he hasn’t got time, so it is going to be incredibly difficult to get this side going.
“Since Martin O’Neill left, the confidence of certain players has dropped. The bottom line with Celtic, and it has been like this all season, is that it isn’t working.
“He needs to get his team performing and some belief in the fanbase. Sunday is going to be really interesting, the atmosphere inside Celtic Park and how that goes.
“Celtic have to win the league this season to get in the Champions League and that is the be-all and end-all.
“The difference between Glasgow football and everywhere else is once the fanbase turns on the manager, that’s it and I don’t know if we are too far off that. That’s Nancy’s problem, and that’s why Sunday (at home to Aberdeen) will be fascinating.
“I think he should have come in and managed the situation. I don’t think he’s necessarily done that. He’s come in and said, ‘I’ll be the coach and do it my way’.
“Well, Wilf’s way, at this moment in time, isn’t working and that’s a problem.
“I think Nancy has qualities as a coach and you can see some of the rotations and his ideas… he’s come in and he’s changed things.
“He said he spoke to Martin O’Neill for 15 minutes. He said before the game, ‘Martin has his way, and I have mine’. Losing four games on the spin, his way isn’t working.”
‘O’Neill worked miracles – Celtic are a third-placed team’
Fans at Tannadice Park chanted for O’Neill after Celtic had fallen behind, with Sutton saying that the interim boss had worked miracles during his spell while eviscerating the state of the current playing squad.
“Martin did unbelievably well. He came out himself and said there needs to be recruitment in January. He knew Celtic were getting away with it.
“He produced miracles. Let’s not make out this Celtic team is a good team. It’s bang average and with key players missing, January’s going to be key. This Celtic team looks like a third-placed team.
“We can’t get past the fact that Celtic are so poor in certain areas and they need to improve it. The only way to do that is through recruitment and that’s not on Nancy – he inherited this squad and it hasn’t been a good squad all season.
“Martin told you that his team was papering over the cracks and were struggling to win games, but they found a way. It was unbelievable what he did with that group of players. But he wasn’t fooled by that. He knew that wasn’t the level.
“Nancy needed to come in and hit the ground running and he hasn’t done that. There are fans who, after three games, have lost faith with Nancy and you think, ‘is that fair after three games?'”
Nancy: ‘I know fans are upset but Celtic heading in right direction’
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Speaking post-match with Sky Sports, Nancy admitted he could understand the fans’ frustrations after being booed by the travelling supporters.
However, he insisted things were heading in the right direction.
“I know they are upset. But we are close to winning games. At the moment, we are not able to do it.
“But the players are giving everything, we try to find solutions for it and we are having many situations to score goals.
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“Listen. Before I came here, I knew the situation. It was to see what we can do, and the plan doesn’t change.
“We are looking ahead regarding that. After that, we’ll see what we’re going to do regarding the window.
“For the moment, the most important thing is to go back to having the possibility to work a little bit.
“We don’t have enough time because of the days we’ve played in a row. That’s the only thing I can do for the moment.
“We are on the right track, but this is not enough – I know that. We all want to win, but I’m confident because of the game we played and every time I see an improvement.”
‘This is going to take time’ – Nancy backed by Celtic CEO
Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson claimed he was fully behind manager Wilfried Nancy, despite a “challenging” start.
Since taking over on a two-and-a-half-year deal, the former Columbus Crew boss has now lost all four matches in charge.
Nicholson insists he understands “discontent” from supporters but is fully behind the Frenchman, and revealed plans for the January and summer transfer windows are now underway after a meeting this week.
Speaking ahead of Celtic’s defeat at Dundee United, he was asked how solid his resolve was to get behind Nancy, and told Celtic TV: “Yeah, absolutely solid. It’s not even two weeks ago when we spoke about Wilfried and his appointment.
“There’s never an easy time to start at Celtic and it has been challenging. We’ve had some disappointing results, not least on Sunday.
“In that respect, I understand that the Celtic support are concerned about where we are. I understand and I respect the right of every supporter to express their discontent and to share that with us.
“But we know where we want to go, and step by step, all of our job is to support Wilfried, his team, and the squad to take us where we want to get to.
“I met with Wilfried this week to discuss recruitment ahead of the January transfer window and also looking ahead to the summer transfer window because we know that we’ve got a project to support here. We’re excited about where we’re going to get to.
“That’s going to take time, both, as I say, day to day within the training environment, but also month to month, window to window.
“We know that when we get to that stage in the summer, hopefully having had success this season, we’ll be looking ahead to next season with great optimism with Wilfried and his team.”