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Under pressure Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy<\/p>\nThe Hoops boss is hanging on to his job after a nightmare start but the Parkhead board are not easy to second guessUnder pressure Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy<\/p>\n
There might have been a fair few Celtic<\/a> fans who got excited on Monday morning when news broke about a big team binning a manager who was wedded to his system but failing to get results.<\/p>\n Those same hearts will have sunk when they learned it was Ruben Amorim<\/a> staggering out of Old Trafford with the plant pot under his arm rather than the current encumber of the smouldering Parkhead hotseat.<\/p>\n Wifried Nancy<\/a> remains in place at Celtic. For now.<\/p>\n And a lot will be wondering how \u2013 and why?<\/p>\n There are plenty of parallels that can be drawn between Nancy and Amorim. There\u2019s the formation for a start.<\/p>\n Like the now ex-Manchester United<\/a> boss, Nancy is a disciple of the flexible 3-4-3 set up, despite it being notoriously difficult without a specific set of players.<\/p>\n Amorim did bend a tad this season when he was starting to look doomed, but even in his darkest days in the second half of last season at Old Trafford, he simply refused to budge.<\/p>\n The Portuguese famously said \u2018not even the Pope\u2019 could convince him to change his approach.<\/p>\n He might have had a point, mind you. Pope Leo is apparently a Roma fan \u2013 where legendary Italian boss Gianluca Gasperini is one of the few gaffers in top level football to make 3-4-3 sing.<\/p>\n Celtic fans got to see it in action a few weeks ago \u2013 only the Hoops didn\u2019t have a prayer.<\/p>\n Nancy now looks to be needing divine intervention for any kind of redemption at Parkhead.<\/p>\n And if there is to be a way back from this abyss, he might need to sell his soul and abandon his approach.<\/p>\n Even talking about a way back seems otherworldly when a Celtic manager has lost six games out of eight<\/a>, including a cup final and a derby.<\/p>\n The fact this run has happened at the very start of his reign has probably kept him in a gig to this point.<\/p>\n If this was a period in isolation in a wider spell in charge, he\u2019d be a goner. Nancy could have been a Treble winner the previous season but half a dozen disastrous defeats would have had the Sky News breaking news ticker tape scrolling.<\/p>\n At least it would at most clubs of a similar stature with similar demands.<\/p>\n Except Celtic don\u2019t often work like other clubs. Sometimes that\u2019s not a bad thing.<\/p>\n Not many clubs have tens of millions in reserve and have won 13 out of 14 titles.<\/p>\n But on other occasions, their actions are beyond head scratching. Like having tens of millions in reserve and having their poorest squad for about 20-odd years.<\/p>\n Not many clubs stick out statements attacking fans, attempting to demolish the reputation of a manager who quit after failing to work out why the plan was to downsize from a position of strength.<\/p>\n A normal club wouldn\u2019t have sold Kyogo last January without a replacement lined up. A normal club would have replaced the frontman first thing in the summer, rather than selling the only other realistic striker on the books and still not doing the business in the first minutes of January.<\/p>\n But Celtic don\u2019t do normal.<\/p>\n Even back the last time a manager was under severe pressure, the decision came months down the line.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_Manchester-City-v-Manchester-United-Premier-League.jpg\")
(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n