The boss is an ocean-going disaster of calamitous proportions and those who can change it will know it
Rangers manager Danny Rohl consoles Wilfried Nancy
The bragging rights for Danny Rohl. The Last Rites read over Wilfried Nancy‘s tenure as Celtic manager?
That question remains to be answered but what appears not to be in doubt is that Rangers have higher to climb and Celtic have further to fall under a manager who has lost six of his eight games since arriving from America.
Rangers have the opportunity to overtake their historic rivals in the Premiership when they play Aberdeen at Ibrox in midweek.
Will Nancy still be at Celtic by then?
The only interpretation that will be put on yesterday’s second-half collapse after Yang Hyun-jun had put Celtic in front is that the Frenchman’s side suffered a characteristic loss of confidence and direction typical of the Premier Sports Cup Final defeat to St Mirren and the league game blown against Dundee United.
That was the night at Tannadice when the Celtic support cracked and told Nancy where he could go at time-up.
That anger will grow like the number of goals conceded by Nancy’s side, now standing at 18 in eight games.
A change of manager might yet retain a hope of winning the title.
Celtic lost yesterday to a far from vintage Rangers as Rohl became the first permanent manager of Rangers to win at Celtic Park since Steven Gerrard in 2020.
That game was during the pandemic and no fans were inside the ground.
A full house bore witness to Celtic’s loss yesterday but the ground emptied before full time.
It is now over to the Celtic board.
Parkhead interim chairman Brian Wilson was once a high flier in Tony Blair’s Labour government of the early 1990’s.
A Minister of State, no less, appointed as the PM’s Special Representative on Overseas Trade.
In other words, a serious man for serious times.
Someone useful to have about the place, for example, when Celtic have gone overseas and appointed a manager who has crossed the Atlantic Ocean to be here, only to find himself all at sea on the banks of the River Clyde.
The interim chairman is also an old newspaper man of my acquaintance so he’ll understand only too well that Nancy being, metaphorically speaking, up the creek without a paddle is a story that won’t go away.
He is an ocean-going disaster of calamitous proportions and, on the back of yesterday’s loss to Rangers, the chances of Wilfried being baled out of trouble are nonexistent.
I did have an indignant caller on the radio last weekend who told me that successive defeats to Motherwell and Rangers would not in any way undermine the manager’s position at Celtic Park.
It was a point of view which ran contrary to everything any of us have ever understood to be true of job security where one of the Old Firm clubs is concerned.
The interim chairman will know the truth of the matter for sure because he was once, at Celtic’s invitation, the author of the club’s official history.
And, if you know the history, you’ll readily appreciate that when a manager is mired in trouble of his own making, unable to find any solutions and has become the cause of severe reputational damage to the club then there is only one possible outcome.
He has lost any entitlement to remain as the manager and his employers have a moral obligation to protect the business they are running by terminating his contract.
Celtic’s Arne Engels and Co look dejected
If there was any directorial reluctance to accept a horrendous mistake had been made over someone who was their managerial appointment in the first place that would be a dangerous manoeuvre.
Refusing to admit failure in order to save your own skin at the club’s expense would cast doubt over the board’s suitability for office, would it not?
The interim chairman would surely have arrived at that conclusion in print when he was a football writer back in the day.
Nancy’s record as Celtic manager now reads more like a charge sheet than anything else. The team has become a play thing for the rest of the Premiership.
Rangers have consistency. Celtic have chaos. Rangers have momentum. Celtic have madness.
Things have now gone well beyond the magnetic tactics board and the green and white trainers where Nancy is concerned.
He appears, the statistical evidence would show, not to know what he is doing.
Thinking that Carlisle was in Scotland was a misdemeanour on Nancy’s part.
Not knowing where he is during a sustained run which suggests Celtic have further to fall under his questionable guidance is something that the club surely can’t tolerate.
The two remaining Europa League games against Bologna and Utrecht don’t bear thinking about as things stand.
The transfer window now open threatens only more additions to a Celtic squad that is already full of severely limited footballers.
The remainder of the season threatens a descent into farce which will further alienate the people who run the club in the eyes of the supporters who subsidise the business by their attendance at matches.
An aerial view of Celtic Park
The crowd at next weekend’s home game against Dundee United might be an interesting barometer of public opinion.
A man who was once a politician dependent on the electorate for his continued existence as an MP will appreciate that Joe Public is not to be ignored if you know what’s good for you.
Rangers might have found themselves a manager by accident after having pursued two other candidates before Rohl’s arrival.
Celtic, for their part, have to survey the debris created by Nancy’s fall from grace and decide what to do about clearing up the mess.
Doing nothing is not an option.