Chris Sutton insists that if Wilfried Nancy is appointed next Celtic manager, Hoops supporters will have to show some patience…
Sutton has called on Celtic supporters to back Nancy and give him time to settle if he takes over, pointing to Ange Postecoglou’s journey from initial doubt to becoming a modern-day icon for the club.
Amid increasing speculation, there is still no solid indication that Celtic are nearing an appointment to replace Brendan Rodgers.
Nancy and Bodo/Glimt manager Kjetil Knutsen remain among those mentioned, though Knutsen is thought to favour staying in Norway until Bodo’s Champions League fixtures finish, which would delay any potential move until late January.
During an appearance on the RecordSport podcast, Sutton highlighted how swiftly perceptions can shift when positive results arrive, citing Postecoglou’s rise from relative obscurity to a Treble-winning hero as an example.
Sutton said: “You know, when Ange Postecoglou came in, he took a lot of flack, didn’t he? Because nobody had ever heard of him and dismissed his track record.”
“I don’t know how people would view Knutsen’s track record and what he’s achieved at Bodo, the fact that he’s gone deep in European competitions before, I think, you know, certainly would bode well.”
“If Wilfred Nancy is the choice then, you know, you’ve got to give him a chance, give him an opportunity. I think any manager taking over this current squad has the work cut out.”
Nancy is now available following Columbus Crew’s early playoff MLS elimination. He is regarded as an innovative coach admired for his attacking, possession-driven style and proven ability to nurture talent.
With players returning from the international break next week, clarity on the situation should begin to emerge in the next few days, giving supporters a better idea of what is unfolding and if the managerial process will conclude anytime soon.
If no agreement can be reached then we have the perfectly acceptable short-term solution already in place with Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney having won all three domestic fixtures since stepping in to replace Brendan Rodgers at the end of October.
Conor Spence
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- Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style by David Potter
I am surprised that nobody is talking of Martin O’Neill as a potential Director of Football at Celtic.
He has more football knowledge than most and is well respected at the club, both by the fans, players and staff.
If he is replaced by a new manager then it could be an ideal time to appoint St. Martin
Chris Sutton would be better off continuing with Hun bashing, than making nonsense claims about our club at present imo?
Already had the claims that he doesn’t want MoN to damage his legacy within the club. While it’s only enhanced by stepping into possibly the most unsettling period in our recent history, and calmed a whole toxic situation, from developing even further?
Not an easy task for anyone to achieve, while revitalising our season at the same time imo?
Our expectations may have massively reduced for this season, but we are still in a position, where so much is still to play for, without not to much already lost.
That doesn’t mean everything is resolved, especially with so much that needs to be fixed, before we can even consider ourselves as getting back to becoming a CL team again imo.
So timing within the whole process involved, isn’t easy to decide upon, especially with the amount of factors involved, within the overall process of finalising and confirming a new manager?
Still believe MoN is the best option, especially with the time factor involved imo.
The unknown answer is whether MoN would actually want to take on such a hectic fixture schedule, after the international break? This despite having the opportunity to increase his legacy with another trophy on offer for himself?
Somehow, I don’t think that he would want to oversee the January window, as that’s hardly going to be an easy fix, especially with the growing number of complications involved within it?
A massive task for any potential manager to undertake, and all possibly without a time factor available to assess the overall squad, and who or won’t fit into his plans going forward?
With everything that potentially January might bring, I still think loan deals with options to buy, is potentially the market we could be in, come January to see out the remainder of this season imo?
So any changes a new manager should bring, possibly won’t take affect until the summer, when a rebuild could be expected?
The chaos that has existed within our club, for considerable amount to time already, is not going to get resolved by the end of January either, so as a club we are still in salvage mode, made harder with the amount of complications involved, within the whole current process in operation at present.
The results will be, that any managers who bring success still, to our club will be treated as heroes.
Any failure and the blame will be placed at the doors of the board?
That’s where we currently are as a club, and no-one at present actually knows how it will unfold for the remainder of this season, and that includes Chris Sutton also?