Few could have predicted Celtic’s season to have been this eventful.
When Brendan Rodgers took Celtic to injury time of the second leg neck-and-neck with Bayern Munich in the Champions League, it really felt like the club was going somewhere.
Fast forward nine months, and so much has changed. Celtic lost the Scottish Cup final then failed to qualify for the Champions League, unhappy fans are protesting, Rodgers is gone, Martin O’Neill replaced him temporarily and now Wilfried Nancy looks set to be the new manager.
If Hoops fans could ask for one thing for the rest of the season, it’s stability. Nancy will be expected to improve things, but he isn’t a miracle worker. This is not the same team that competed so well against Bayern.
And for Chris Sutton, Paul Tisdale owes his new man in the dugout a favour in the January window if Celtic are to avoid an unthinkable failure to win the Scottish Premiership.
Chris Sutton on the decisive factor for the rest of Celtic’s season
Rodgers’ infamous Honda Civic comments will forever be associated with his acrimonious departure.
It was the most damning terms yet in which he had described a summer transfer window which pushed many fans’ patience with the board to a breaking point.
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In his column for the Daily Record, Sutton laid down the challenge for Tisdale, whose performance in his role so far can certainly be questioned.
He said: “January is going to be absolutely vital.
“Next week’s AGM is going to be essential viewing, that’s for sure. If the manager in place by then, the board will need to explain their thinking and reveal their plans for the transfer window.
“Because, make no mistake, January will determine the outcome of the title. It’s going to be an arms race between Celtic, Rangers and Hearts and whoever comes out on top will be best placed to kick on and become champions.
“Celtic should have the advantage given their resources. But the same questions from the summer are hovering over the recruitment.
“They can’t afford to hang around until the last minute again as there are too many big games over the period and it could leave them with too much ground to make up.
“Celtic can’t afford to sit on their hands and hope for the best. The new manager is the first piece of the jigsaw puzzle but it’s also just the start.
“It also means Paul Tisdale will have a key part to play in the coming weeks and months. The last few transfer windows have been horrendous but we’ll now find out just how much that was down to him.
“Tisdale has pretty much been in the shadows since he arrived at the club but the spotlight is well and truly on him now – and he has to deliver.
“If Nancy is the man then he will need support from the recruitment team as however things pan out in the short term won’t be on him.”
Paul Tisdale’s performance at Celtic so far
No one knows exactly what Tisdale does day-to-day in his role of Head of Football Operations, but reports suggest that he was trusted to play a leading role in the managerial search.
In terms of recruitment, he has overseen acquisitions which Rodgers described as ‘club signings’ and refused to include in his Europa League squad.
Michael Nicholson and Dermot Desmond’s roles in the transfer market are likely more influential than Tisdale’s, but he must have had some say over the summer.
Tisdale worked with Kwame Ampadu, Nancy’s assistant in Columbus, in his time at Exeter City, creating the connection which led to Celtic’s interest in the Frenchman.