Wilfried Nancy has already made his biggest mistake as Celtic manager

Robin Bairner

• 8 Dec 2025 08:30 CST
• 3 min read

Analysis

Wilfried Nancy’s career at Celtic got off to the worst possible start as the Hoops suffered a 2-1 defeat to Hearts at Parkhead in the Scottish Premiership.

If the Frenchman, who had never previously coached a senior game outside of MLS, had not been aware of the scale of his task in Glasgow, waking up on Monday morning, he certainly would be.

Upon his arrival, Celtic fans were promised swashbuckling attacking football, and while this was on display for periods during Sunday’s loss, his side came up short.

Nancy will have to take some of the responsibility for that. With just two training sessions with the squad behind him, he elected to rip up the previous framework for success and to instead deploy a 3-4-3 formation.

This setup will, if used in the long term, have some serious repercussions for the Celtic squad. For example, how will captain Callum McGregor fit into the midfield when the demands of Nancy’s setup require ultra-mobile midfielders who can eat up ground? McGregor remains a fine player, but his strengths are not athletic.

But that’s an issue for another day. A bigger problem for Nancy will be shaking the image of him on the sidelines discussing the team’s shape with the captain on the sidelines using a miniature tactics board.

Nancy and his tactics board to go down in infamy

Just as his decision to go 3-4-3 looked out of the Ruben Amorim playbook at Manchester United, so too did the Frenchman toying with red and blue counters in the pouring rain while his side slipped to an unexpected defeat. The Portuguese coach trademarked this move as the Red Devils were stunned by Grimsby in the Carabao Cup earlier this season.

In the insular world of Scottish football, Nancy has already been stigmatised by these images, and it will take an almighty effort for him to shake these from his reputation.

Nancy has already been endlessly memed on social media playing ‘Connect 4’ in the dugout, while other fans have asked him if he is going to play Battleships when Roma come calling in the Europa League on Thursday.

This was a byproduct of putting players on the field who were ill-prepared in his tactics.

James McFadden, speaking to Sky Sports, defended the new manager.

“The biggest issue was always going to be that it was clear that Wilfred Nancy wants to play a back three and it was clear he was going to put that in place as soon as he could.

“I'm not saying there's any issue with changing the formation, the top players we're talking about should be able to deal with that.

“The timing was always going to be the issue for Celtic because Martin O'Neill probably exceeded his own expectations, and the form that he showed, the results that he was getting.”

Any weakness will be pounced upon

Nancy has, therefore, been thrust into the job at the worst possible time by a Celtic board that cannot do right.

Unfortunately for the former Columbus Crew boss, he is seen as an extension of the Hoops hierarchy, who have been running the club like a circus this season.

Patience among the fanbase has already been eroded, and any sign of the new manager being weak or ill-prepared for the job will be pounced upon. Nancy’s decision to get the tactics board out, was an example of just that, and it leaves him with a battle to regain grace among the Celtic support.

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