Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy has the full backing of the board, despite losing his first four games.
Pressure is mounting on the new manager after losing to Hearts, Roma, St Mirren and Dundee United in his first 15 days in the job – their worst run since 1978.
Nancy has had a routine chat with the club hierarchy to discuss plans going forward, recruitment as well as wider issues of adjusting to life in Scotland and safety.
Nancy took training in Lennoxtown as normal as the Hoops prepare to face Aberdeen at Celtic Park on Sunday.
Sky Sports news understand that the club bosses are on board with Nancy’s vision for Celtic and have fully supported his desire to change the system immediately.
It is believed they feel they will get a better idea of ​​which current squad members can fit into the new system in order to focus on which areas to recruit in the January and summer transfer windows.
This was reiterated yesterday when CEO Michael Nicholson told Celtic TV that he had held talks with Nancy about recruiting for the next two transfer windows.
During yesterday’s 2-1 defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice, a large section of Celtic fans called for Nancy to go. There were also shouts of “Martin O’Neill” – who took interim charge of the club following the shock departure of Brendan Rodgers – winning seven of his eight games.
Nancy, 48, was appointed from the Columbus Crew – on the recommendation of Celtics head of football operations Paul Tisdale.
Tisdale is currently on holiday but is believed to be in close contact with the club’s staff and working towards the January transfer window.
Sutton: ‘Nancy’s Way Doesn’t Work’
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Sky Sports pundits Chris Sutton and Kris Boyd discuss Wilfried Nancy’s start to life at Celtic after four defeats in charge
After Wednesday’s defeat, former Celtic striker Chris Sutton admitted he had sympathy for the position Nancy found himself in, but admitted his way was not working since taking the reigns from Martin O’Neill.
“I have tremendous sympathy for him,” Sutton said. “Celtic are not in pre-season and if Nancy had a full pre-season you might see things develop differently.
“He hasn’t. He says he doesn’t have time, so it’s going to be incredibly difficult to get this site up and running.
Nancy has lost his first four games as Celtic manager
“Since Martin O’Neill left, the confidence of certain players has gone down. The bottom line with Celtic, and it’s been like that all season, is that it’s not working.
“He needs to get his team to perform and some belief in the fan base. Sunday will be really interesting, the atmosphere inside Celtic Park and how it goes.
“Celtic have to win the league this season to get into the Champions League and that’s it.
“The difference between Glasgow football and everywhere else is when the fan base turn on the manager, that’s it and I don’t know if we’re too far from that. That’s Nancy’s problem and that’s why Sunday (at home to Aberdeen) will be fascinating.
Sutton asked ahead of the Dundee United defeat if Nancy had underestimated the task
“I think he should have come in and managed the situation. I don’t think he necessarily has. He’s come in and said, ‘I want to be a coach and do it my way.’
“Well, Wilf’s way, at this point, isn’t working, and that’s a problem.
“I think Nancy has qualities as a coach and you can see some of the rotations and his ideas… he’s come in and he’s changed things.
“He said he spoke to Martin O’Neill and spoke to him for 15 minutes. He said before the game, ‘Martin has his way and I have mine’. To lose four games on the spin, his way doesn’t work.”
‘What you should focus on’ – The Venn diagram that caused a storm
Wilfried Nancy’s Venn diagram sparked major backlash from Celtic fans on social media
Ahead of the match at Tannadice Park, Nancy appeared to update her profile picture on X of a Venn diagram with the captions “Things you can control”, “Things that matter.” There was then an arrow pointing to the center of the chart labeled “What to focus on.”
Without context, the image appeared to be a subtle response to the noise regarding his future at Celtic Park just two weeks into the job, with some sections of the fanbase already calling for his departure.
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Former Celtic midfielder Stiliyan Petrov on Wilfried Nancy’s winless Celtic start and if the new boss will be given time to turn things around
When fans discovered the profile change, it quickly went viral and the account was eventually made private.
Nancy later claimed that the photo in question was unrelated to Celtic and linked back to his time with the Columbus Crew.
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Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy says he believes the team are heading in the right direction, despite their losing run stretching to four games with a 2-1 loss to Dundee United
“My wife was not happy and to be honest, believe it or not, the profile was about Columbus,” he shared BBC Sport.
“So my X picture was about Columbus, where I was in the Columbus locker room. So I just wanted to change what I have on my WhatsApp.
“Simple as that. So it wasn’t a mistake or anything. I don’t want to create a fight as simple as that.
“I did it because my picture was up in the Columbus locker room, so I just wanted to change what I have on my WhatsApp. It’s that simple.”
Dundee United’s mocking response to the Nancy post
Had Wednesday night ended with a win, this might be a flash-in-the-pan story. However, United’s remarkable second-half comeback did nothing to help. And neither did their full-time parties.
Dundee United mocked Nancy’s social media with their full-time post after the win over Celtic
After the final whistle, the club’s official X account posted a picture with the caption “focusing on three big points”, referring to the statements in Nancy’s upload.
To make matters worse, the post also mocked the Venn diagram by creating a parody that included the score line.