Manager Chris Sutton described Celtic as a “third-place team” following their fourth straight defeat against Dundee United, but insisted that Wilfried Nancy’s methods are not working for Celtic.
The result means the Hoops are on their worst losing streak since 1978, and pressure is mounting to replace Nancy, despite having been appointed to replace Brendan Rodgers just two weeks ago.
Sutton said he sympathized with Nancy’s circumstances and acknowledged that the Frenchman’s methods had not had the desired effect, with chairman Peter Lawwell stepping down from the club’s board citing “abuse and intimidation”.
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Highlights of the Scottish Premiership match between Dundee United and Celtic
“I feel so bad for him,” Sutton said. “Celtic are not in pre-season, but if Nancy had the whole pre-season things might play out differently.
“He hasn’t been able to do that. He says he doesn’t have time, so it’s going to be incredibly difficult to move this team forward.
“Ever since Martin O’Neill left, the confidence of some players has gone down. The fundamental thing about Celtic is that they’re not working, as they have been all season.”
“He needs to gain confidence in the performance of the team and in the fan base. It will be really interesting to see the atmosphere inside Celtic Park on Sunday and how it goes.”
“Celtic have to win the league this season to qualify for the Champions League and that is all that matters.
“The difference between football in Glasgow and football anywhere else is that once the fan base criticizes the manager, that’s it, but I don’t know if we’re too far from that. That’s Nancy’s problem and that’s why Sunday (home to Aberdeen) will be fascinating.”
“I think he should have come in and taken control of the situation. I don’t think he’s necessarily done that. He came in and said, ‘I’m going to be the coach and do it my way.’
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“Well, Wilf’s approach isn’t working at the moment and that’s the problem.
“I think Nancy has the coaching qualities and you can see the rotation and some of his ideas…he came in and changed things.
“He said he spoke to Martin O’Neill for 15 minutes. He said before the game, ‘Martin has his way, I have mine.’ His way hasn’t worked out because we lost four games on the spin.”
‘O’Neill has worked a miracle – Celtic are the third-placed team.’
Fans at Tannadice Park cheered O’Neill after Celtic fell behind, and Sutton said the caretaker manager had wrought miracles during his tenure, while gutting the current form of the team.
“Martin has done an incredible job. He came forward and said we needed reinforcements in January. He knew Celtic were running away.”
“He’s worked miracles. Let’s not pretend this Celtic team is a good team. They’re average on average and with key players missing, January will be key. This Celtic team looks like a third-place team.”
“We can’t get over the fact that Celtic are very poor in certain areas and we need to improve on that. The only way to do that is through recruiting, and that’s not Nancy. He inherited this team and they haven’t been a good team all season.”
“Martin said his team was struggling and struggling to win games, but he found a way. What he did with that group of players was unbelievable. But he didn’t fall for it. He knew it wasn’t at the level.”
“Nancy needed to come in and give it his all, and he didn’t. Some fans have lost faith in Nancy after three games. They’re going to think, ‘Is that fair after three games?’
Nancy: ‘I know the fans are upset but Celtic are heading in the right direction’
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Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy says he believes his side are heading in the right direction despite a 2-1 loss to Dundee United, extending their losing streak to four games.
After the match, Nancy admitted in an interview with Sky Sports that he understood the fans’ frustration after being booed by traveling supporters.
But he insisted things were heading in the right direction.
“I know they’re upset, but we’re close to winning and we can’t do that at the moment.
“But the players are giving their all and we are trying to find a solution to it and we are faced with a lot of situations where we score goals.
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Celtic’s Daenen Maeda missed a golden chance to equalize late in the 2-1 defeat to Dundee United.
“Listen, I knew the situation before I came here. It was to see what we could do, and the plan remains the same.
“We are looking at that positively and then we will think about what to do regarding the window.
“The most important thing for now is to get back to working a little bit.
“We don’t have enough time because we are playing games every day, so that’s the only thing we can do right now.
“We are on the right track, but this is not enough. We know that. We all want to win, but we are confident because of the games we played and because we see improvement every time.”
‘This is going to take time’ – Celtic CEO backs Nancy
Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson says he has full support for Nancy.
Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson has insisted he fully supports manager Wilfried Nancy despite a “difficult” start.
Since signing a two-and-a-half year contract, the former Columbus Crew manager has now lost all four games in charge.
Nicholson said he understands supporters’ “frustrations” but insists he fully supports the Frenchman, and revealed after this week’s meeting that plans for the January and summer transfer windows are currently underway.
Asked how determined he was to follow in Nancy’s footsteps ahead of Celtic’s defeat to Dundee United, he told Celtic TV: “Yes, absolutely. It was only two weeks ago that I spoke to Wilfried about his appointment.”
“It’s never been an easy time to start for Celtic and it’s been difficult, especially on Sunday, which was disappointing.
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“We understand that the Celtic support is concerned about our position in that regard. We understand and respect the right of all supporters to express their grievances and share them with us.”
“But we know where we want to go and step by step, our job is to support Wilfried, his team and the squad to take us where we want to get to.
“I met with Wilfried this week to discuss recruitment ahead of the January transfer window and also looking ahead to the summer transfer window because we know we have a project to support here and we are excited about where we will get to.”
“This is going to take time, like I’m saying, not just day-to-day time within the training environment, but month-to-month, window-to-window time as well.
“Once we get to that stage in the summer, we hope to have a successful season this season and together with Wilfried and his team we will look to next season with great optimism.”
