Wilfried Nancy's low-key Celtic unveiling - but his start can be anything but

Normally the occasion of a Celtic managerial unveiling takes centre stage, but there was a low-key element to Wilfried Nancy’s coronation.

Celtic Park is traditionally the venue for such an event. Not this time. We got our first glimpse of Nancy at the club’s training centre on Friday at Lennoxtown, in the shadows of the Campsies - and the World Cup draw. There was no chairman or chief executive to present him. That was left to the club’s comms director Iain Jamieson.

Not that Nancy can take the blame for timing and attendees, although the suspicion is that the 48-year-old wanted to keep everything close to the practice pitches when it came to location. After all, he has an awful lot of work to do, and not many hours to do it in.

Wilfried Nancy speaks to the media at Celtic's Lennoxtown training base. | SNS Group

Life will come at Nancy fast and furious. We have known for weeks that the Frenchman was the choice to replace Brendan Rodgers, who quit Celtic almost 40 days ago. In between now and then, Martin O’Neill so admirably filled in as caretaker that the champions have eradicated a nine-point gap between them and Hearts. Only goal difference separates them.

Nancy can go one step further on Sunday. He faces the Jam Tarts in his opening match - and that will be at Celtic Park. Win it and his team hits the summit.

A Europa League match against Roma on Thursday, followed by next weekend’s Premier Sports Cup final against St Mirren at Hampden. It is a good thing Nancy is an energetic individual.

Snared from Columbus Crew in the MLS, the first impressions of Nancy were positive: engaging, passionate, enthusiastic and delighted to be at Celtic. Not so long ago, in the same chair, Rodgers would sit poring over ructions with the board and transfer woes. Nancy’s infectious smile certainly illuminated the room.

“This club is a club with passion and we play also for the fans, so it’s totally normal that if we don’t play well that they can say something,” Nancy said as he tried to address some of the disunity affecting fans amid anger with the board. “But the idea is also to please them and to give them emotion.

“I am a coach. The idea is to bring joy, with the way we’re going to play and the results that we’re going to have. This is the only thing that I can control. After that, I cannot do anything. I’m aware about this but the idea is to connect.”

Nancy’s job ‘is not a normal one’

Nancy stressed the need to be humble amid the pressure-cooker environment of Scottish football. The sport is about ups and downs, he said, not a flat line. He is not scared of losing. In his view, sometimes a backwards step can take you forward. The Le Havre native has clear ideologies.

“My job is not a normal job, with a lot of humility,” Nancy continued, stressing that Celtic feels like a perfect fit for him. “The life we have, it’s unbelievable. But at the same time, we know that there is a lot of pressure. But pressure is part of our life.

“I was really pleased to see people welcome me, everywhere. I hope that they’re going to stay like that! Before I came here, I knew that the demand was high, and I knew that everybody talked about winning. But I don’t know a competitor who likes to lose.

“I know that if I don’t do a good job, maybe after five games, or 10 games, it’s going to be like that. Carlo Ancelotti is one of the most titled coaches and he’s been fired, so I don’t have an issue with that because this is part of our job.

“My job is to be clear, to maximise our chance to win, and to find a way to be consistent, and obviously the outcome is to win trophies. But the outcome, I cannot control that. I control what we do every day on the pitch.”

Wilfried Nancy addresses his new Celtic players during training. | SNS Group

Pressed on his style of play, Nancy offered up this response. “We want to play offensive football – but what does that mean offensive football?

“This is more about everybody wants to score goals and so on, but for me it’s about ‘proactivity’ – to try to put doubt in the opposition, try to attack as soon as possible and after that be disgusting to play against. We’re going to have moments when we suffer so we need to be good defensively.

“Again it’s step by step. I arrived two days ago we have two days to prepare the game [against Hearts], so this is the idea.”

Nancy said he has been impressed with the quality levels within the squad but admitted the players need confidence. O’Neill started the process, now he has to continue it. He also has the January transfer market on the horizon - although his immediate focus is on those already in the building.

“First of all, I’m going to have to assess the team and to know them a little bit better,” added Nancy when asked about transfers. “I know them as a player because I’ve watched them in games. Now this is about knowing them as a person, and after that we’ll see what is the best for the team.

“I like to take my time. I know that I don’t have a lot of time but the idea is to be coherent, programming the profile that we need. Obviously they anticipate different stuff already, it’s totally normal. We have to be ahead, if we are not ahead we’re going to be in trouble.

“So it doesn’t change. But I stop everything, because let me see what we have and, after that, we will adjust.”

The next week will give Nancy a far more comprehensive dossier on the squad. By that point, he could be top of the league, on the cusp of the Europa League knock-outs and have a trophy in the pocket. There would be nothing low-key about that start.