Wilfried Nancy is under severe pressure at Celtic after the 3-1 Old Firm defeat to Rangers on Saturday – but the under-fire Hoops boss insists he’s still the right man for the job
Wilfried Nancy, the Celtic manager currently under scrutiny, has asserted that he does not fear being dismissed from his position.
The beleaguered Hoops boss suffered a sixth defeat in eight games following a shocking second half collapse against Rangers.
After his team squandered a first half lead and disintegrated after the interval in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat, Nancy finds himself teetering on the edge.
In the aftermath of the dreadful performance, thousands of Celtic fans staged protests outside Parkhead, demanding the departure of both the club’s board and the manager. However, Nancy maintains that he is not contemplating his future and remains confident that he can steer the team out of their current predicament.
When questioned about his concerns over losing his job, the former Columbus Crew head coach responded: “I don’t think about it. I think about finding ways to help my team to be good on details. We are together with the board.”
Nancy did concede that he understands the frustration of the fans as Celtic’s campaign appears to be rapidly deteriorating. Rangers’ victory brought them level with the Celts in second place, but the Parkhead side are in a serious slump, reports the Daily Record.
Nancy commented: “Yes, it’s the results. Results. So this is the reality for the moment. But when I say this is the reality, it doesn’t mean that I am a defeatist guy. No. What I mean is we are really close, really, really close to turn things around. And again, I repeat myself, but I can understand this situation.
“In terms of results, yes. I cannot deny that they had the results. After that, they struggled also at certain moments, but they found a way to win. I cannot deny that. So now, I think it’s a small margin because again, the first game against Hearts, if we win the game, if we score the goals, I think that it could be different.
“So now this is the situation, and when we lose it could be difficult, but I know that my players are stronger and able to bounce back.”
Celtic fans staged a mass protest outside at the end and Nancy said: “I can understand that. I think that they were behind us the first half, they pushed us in a good way. And after that, I can understand why they’re disappointed regarding the fact that we had many possibilities to win the game. I know that I repeat myself, but it happened in the past also regarding many games.
“And I think that they really enjoyed the first half. They saw a team, players that they were giving everything with the ball and without the ball.
“So they see the direction that we want to go but in a consistent way, you know, for 95 minutes. After that, the fact that I know the meaning of this game-I know that-and the disappointment for them.
“But what I can tell them is what we did during the first half and also at certain moments in the second half, this is what we want to do. But at the same time, we know that we can’t accept, we cannot accept to concede goals like this. We know that. And this is something that we’re going to work on.”
