In a rare as hen’s teeth interview with the comfort of the club’s media channels, Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson stated that – no laughing at the back – he intends to give Wilfried Nancy full backing in the January transfer window. The proof is in the pudding…
Nicholson, alongside Celtic’s Chief Financial Officer Chris McKay visited Lennoxtown on Thursday lunchtime to meet and greet the Frenchman and show him around the club’s training facilities for the first time. Nancy then led his first training session yesterday morning and will be thrown into action immediately, with Hearts arriving at Celtic Park on Sunday afternoon for a top of the table Scottish Premiership clash.
The penny has dropped
Looking past the short-term challenges Nancy faces, lasting success depends on smart signings and effective work in the transfer market. The penny has dropped (McKay caught it before it hit the floor) as Nicholson appears to have recognised this, though his comments will face scepticism following a shambolic and much-criticised summer transfer window.
Speaking via Celtic TV, Celtic’s Silent Man said: “We want to develop the club and we want to perform. And in order to do that, we’re all going to get behind Wilfried from today, in the next coming days, the weeks and months, and in particular in the transfer windows ahead, both in January and into the summer. We’ll do everything we can to support Wilfried and his team and the players to deliver success for our supporters.”
“We’ve got a massive game ahead on Sunday, a massive week ahead”
“The club he [Nancy] was working with at the time were keen to keep a hold of Wilfried, so we were delighted to get through that process and bring him in. Once we’d achieved that, we wanted to get Wilfried started as quickly as possible.”
“We saw that this morning. He was straight into it. He wanted to get into the football because we know that we’ve got a massive game ahead on Sunday, a massive week ahead.”
Nicholson added: “We know the expectation. We know what we want to deliver for our supporters, but we believe this was the right time to bring Wilfried in. We’ve been pushing very hard to get the process completed as quickly as we could. It took time.”
“We’ve been aware of Wilfried for a long time”
“I think when Brendan resigned, we always have to be aware of the market,” he continued. “We’ve been aware of Wilfried for a long time. He was our number one candidate going into the process. The more we looked into it, the more we saw that he aligned with what we need and what our vision for the club is.”
“We want to develop the club. We want to develop players. And we want to succeed. So there’s a real performance element. And the more we looked at this, the more we felt that Wilfried was a perfect fit.”
“He’s humble. He has integrity. He’s got a real passion for the game
“He’s humble. He has integrity. He’s got a real passion for the game. You can sense his passion for Celtic, his excitement, his desire to get going. So that was really exciting to see. His style of football is the style of football that we want to see at Celtic. It’s aggressive. It’s attacking. And we’re delighted to have, and we’re looking forward to seeing how that translates onto the pitch.”
Wilfried Nancy can at least be 100% assured of the backing of the Celtic support when we arrives at Celtic Park tomorrow afternoon to take on Hearts. He also has this commitment from Michael Nicholson and if that is delivered that he should be in a very good place as Celtic manager.
Conor Spence
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Message for the CEO Nicholson – in case you search the blogs. Maybe someone does that for you. Or maybe you just don’t give a damn. I suspect the latter is the case.
It remains to be seen whether you have any integrity. Please do convince us! We are watching closely.
It would also help if you stopped your snide comments and your seeming lack of humility. Don’t preach to people and don’t look down on them. If you treat everyone with respect, the chances are you may get it back. So far, all we have seen is contempt from the board and especially from junior Desmond. Giving him a platform was a big mistake. He lacks maturity.
Nancy humble and a man of integrity? In that case, he will get along like a house on fire with Peter Lawwell. It is often said that opposites attract…
Hail Hail.