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- 13 hours ago
Chris Sutton leaps to Wilfried Nancy’s defence: One of the dumbest takes I’ve heard
Robin Bairner
- 10 Dec 2025 10:46 GMT
- 4 min read
News
Celtic legend Chris Sutton has leapt to the defence of Wilfried Nancy following criticism directed at the new Hoops boss following Sunday’s 2-1 Premiership loss against Hearts in Glasgow.
Nancy was in the Celtic dugout for the first time against the Jambos and made a big change to the side as he employed a 3-4-3 formation.
But it was the Frenchman’s use of the tactics board on the sidelines that caught the eye of critics, while one even slammed his green trainers.
Writing for the Daily Record, former Hearts star Ryan Stevenson claimed he was “absolutely raging” about what he saw from the former Columbus Crew manager.
“I’m sorry but Nancy simply won’t get away with gimmicks like that at Celtic Park. If you’re going to be the manager of Celtic you shouldn’t be standing at the side of a pitch trying to figure things out on a tactics board. The ideas should be in your head already,” he claimed.
“Also, he should do himself a favour and ditch the green Adidas trainers. I mean, what was that all about?”
Sutton issues brutal Ryan Stevenson putdown after ‘dumb’ Nancy criticism
Chris Sutton was quick with his response to Stevenson – and the former Celtic striker was brutal in his message.
“Having a go at Wilfried Nancy for wearing green trainers and bringing out a tactics board (to try to get a message across to his players who he has barely coached) is one of the dumbest and most backward takes I’ve ever heard…” Sutton said on X.
It is the second time that he has backed the new boss following claims of “hysteria” following that debut defeat.
“I didn’t agree with Willie’s Nancy’s decision to change things against Hearts but some of the hysteria and nonsense written and said about him is totally unjust,” he tweeted.
“The guy has come in and not had time to work. He needs time … just like Ange Postecoglou did.”
Nancy’s challenge at Celtic does not get any easier, with Roma visiting Parkhead in the Europa League on Thursday before the League Cup final against St Mirren follows on Sunday.
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Wilfried Nancy has already made his biggest mistake as Celtic manager
Five players who could join Celtic in January
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