Where do Celtic go from here?
Wilfried Nancy remains in charge of Celtic for now, but patience among the fanbase is wearing dangerously thin after another damaging defeat to Rangers.
Saturday’s loss marked Nancy’s sixth defeat in eight matches, adding to what has been an increasingly bleak period for the club. With frustration boiling over, respected journalist Henry Winter has summed up Celtic’s predicament in blunt fashion — and many supporters would agree with his assessment.
The Celtic board were already under intense scrutiny, but the decision to replace Martin O’Neill with Nancy has only intensified supporter anger. Winter highlighted O’Neill’s short interim spell following the turbulent end of Brendan Rodgers’ reign, pointing out how effective it was despite the limited timeframe.
Winter questioned why the board chose not to retain O’Neill until the summer before making a permanent appointment, especially given the stability and fight the team showed under his brief leadership.
While Nancy has cited the lack of a pre-season as a contributing factor to Celtic’s struggles, Winter was quick to counter that argument, noting that O’Neill also had no pre-season — yet still managed to extract far more from the same group of players.
Winter laid out the contrast starkly on social media:
“Martin O’Neill: eight games, seven wins, one defeat. Wilfried Nancy: eight games, two wins, six defeats.”
He added that while O’Neill’s deep understanding of the club, its standards and culture clearly helped, the difference in intensity was glaring. Celtic, he argued, showed fight under O’Neill, whereas Nancy’s side collapsed in the second half against Rangers after controlling large spells of the match.
Winter acknowledged that Celtic’s issues predate Nancy’s appointment, but stressed that the current situation is unsustainable. He suggested that when a team falls apart so dramatically, it often reflects a deeper issue — a collective loss of belief in the manager.
He concluded by questioning why the board did not ask O’Neill to steady the ship until the summer and then appoint a permanent head coach from a stronger pool of candidates.
For a club of Celtic’s stature, Winter believes leadership decisions must reflect its size, expectations and passionate support — something many fans feel has been sorely lacking.
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