Nancy sacked, O’Neill returns – What’s next for Dermot Desmond and Celtic Board

Let’s have a look at what was said yesterday as Martin O’Neill returned to Celtic after the dreadful Wilfried Nancy mistake ended in the Frenchman being sacked alongside Celtic’s Head of Football Operations Paul Tisdale. And we’ll give our thoughts on all of this as we look at what’s next for the Celtic Board…

Martin O’Neill – Celtic are lucky to have him 

“I am really pleased, in fact, very honoured to be asked back to manage the team again and I am looking forward to getting back to work again with the players.

“I know we would all have hoped for things to have worked out differently under Wilfried and I personally want to wish him good luck with everything he does in the game. He is a fine man and I am sure he will go on and achieve success again, I have no doubt of that.

“For me, I’ve been asked to take this great job on again and my focus will be to try and get us back to winning ways if we can. We will need everyone right behind us.

“We still have a lot to look forward to and a lot to try and achieve, and myself, Shaun and the coaching staff and, of course, the players will be giving everything to achieve all the success we can for the club.”

Speaking to Gerry McCulloch on Celtic TV Martin said: “I’m obviously very pleased and privileged to be back at the football club, but in circumstances like this, with Wilfried leaving the club, that just seems a wee bit strange at this moment.

“We know we’re in a big fight. We’re going to try and win the league. It won’t be easy, although it never is, but we’re halfway through the season, we’ve got a big fight on our hands, so we have to be up to the challenge.”

The Celtic Star:  Like Brendan Rodgers, Martin O’Neill is a proper football manager, one that will get the best out of the squad as he already shown is possible this season.

Alarm bells were ringing about Nancy when Martin returned to talkSport after being denied the chance to take charge of Celtic for another week and while we will never know for sure, many supporters believe that cost us a win over Hearts and the Cup Final against St Mirren. He’d also have given Roma a better game too.

On his return to talkSport Martin talked about staying on at Lennoxtown to brief Nancy at the request of the club, yet the incoming Celtic manager spoke to him for just 15 minutes with Nancy doing most of the talking! You are starting the biggest job of your life and you have an iconic figure available to guide you – you’d think he’s have wanted 15 hours hearing from Martin including his insight into the players he had been managing so successful in the weeks running up to Nancy’s appointment.

Martin left as the Manager of the Month for November before Nancy had the month from hell in December, losing the support at Tannadice and also the dressing room – things that will never happen to Martin at Celtic.

It turned out that even Brendan didn’t have the gravitas or the status to stand up to the Celtic Board and their punts and projects signings policy, gambling that they will unearth another Matt O’Riley or Nicolas Kuhn so that they can cash in. That’s what it’s all about to them. Martin will want players to improve the team and he is crafty enough to know he now has a strong hand.

Where this leave Celtic is that a football manager might be able to select and recruit players of his own choosing.  Martin’s primary target is to win the league. If he fails that’s not on him it’s on the men we’ll discuss below and they know it as well as we do.

Next up – Celtic’s interim Chairman Brian Wilson.

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Brian Wilson – other issues to address after sacking Nancy and Tisdale

Brian Wilson, Celtic’s Interim Chairman, said: “The way things worked out for Wilfried Nancy is an intense disappointment, not least from a purely human perspective. We wish him and his family well.

“By bringing Martin back to the club, we look forward with confidence, giving the team real focus for the challenges ahead. He is a manager the players, staff and supporters know well, with a peerless reputation in football and a deep commitment to Celtic.

“The immediate priority is to get back to winning ways and while today’s events do not address every issue, I would appeal for unity within the stadium to create the best possible environment for the manager and team to launch the fight-back.”

The Celtic Star: Brian Wilson calls for unity while accepting that removing Nancy and Tisdale doesn’t address all the issues and we can agree with him on the latter point.

As for his call for unity, perhaps the Celtic Board should reflect on their actions this season which have been far from ‘world class’ in so many areas including briefing against Brendan Rodgers (winner of 11 trophies from 13 as Celtic manager) in the tabloids, doing the same thing against the Celtic support, banning the Celtic fan media for no reason whatsoever, and manufacturing a dispute with the Green Brigade, while disgracing the club at the AGM.

The first thing that needs to be done Brian, to start addressing the other issues,  is to remove the ban on the Green Brigade starting on Saturday.

Next up – Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson.

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Michael Nicholson – challenges of his own making 

Celtic’s Chief Executive Michael Nicholson said: “We are very pleased to welcome Martin back to Celtic as manager until the end of the season and we will give him and the rest of our management team every support as we address the challenges we face during the second half of the season.

“Having spoken to Martin, I know he is excited again to be with us and very committed to doing everything he can, along with Shaun and the other coaches, to deliver the success we all know he can bring.

“Wilfried is someone who we will always respect, and while it is unfortunate that things did not work out, we certainly offer him our best wishes and hope that he can once again achieve success in his future roles.”

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“We’ll do everything we can to support Wilfried, his team and the players to deliver success for our supporters.”

Chief Executive Michael Nicholson spoke last night of his delight in bringing Wilfried Nancy to Celtic.#BienvenueWilfried | #CelticFC🍀 pic.twitter.com/DsQWj8hLVg

— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) December 5, 2025

The Celtic Star:  Where do we start Michael? When will you take any responsibility for the events of 2025 and the first week of the new year? Two dreadful transfer window decimated the squad and lost us two cup finals and an elite manager. To cover boardroom failing Brendan Rodgers was stabbed in the back.

The press briefings against the manager who won 11 trophies for Celtic was shameful as was your ‘investigation’ to find the culprit. Having done that dastardly deed you really had to make a solid choice as the next Celtic manager but despite your assurances that he was your first choice all along, Wilfried Nancy turned out to be a total disaster. You even rushed him in after that awkward hug at Lennoxtown on the day he arrived.

You couldn’t even sit alongside him as at a media conference to introduce him as the new Celtic manager.

Instead of letting Martin O’Neill take the team for another week we allowed Nancy to implement his new system from the word go and lost to Hearts, Roma and St Mirren in the Cup Final – that’s on you as much as it’s on the Frenchman you sacked yesterday.

You have picked fights with the support, particularly the Green Brigade and you have banned the Celtic fan media probably because you don’t want those awkward questions asked. You still haven’t signed a striker and this week two of your project ‘club signings’ from the summer left having made zero impact. Who sacks you Michael?

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Introducing Mr. Michael Nicholson…

This is the next man who’s job should be on the chopping block. Listen to this confident backing of the disaster that was Wilfried Nancy.

He, like Tisdale, hasn’t got a clue of he was so convinced by that charlatan.

🍀 pic.twitter.com/wRArnwKJZo

— Celtic World Order Podcast (@CwoPod1888) January 5, 2026

Next up – Celtic’s principal shareholder, Dermot Desmond.

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Dermot Desmond – Celtic’s keyboard warrior 

Celtic’s principal shareholder, Dermot Desmond added: “I am pleased to welcome Martin back to Celtic. We know exactly what he will bring and we hope that he can do what he has done for us before, giving us that drive and direction as we move into the next part of the season.

“We all know about his proven track record with the club and hope he can bring us similar success going forward.

“When we appointed Wilfried to the role of manager, clearly we thought we could enjoy a successful period under his control. Unfortunately this did not work out in the way we would have liked, and while he and the club are disappointed with the recent period, I want to take this opportunity to wish him well in all he does going forward.”

The Celtic Star:  Desmond, your mask slipped the night you posted that disgraceful rant about Brendan Rodgers on the official Celtic FC website. It was so unnecessary as you and your boardroom subordinates had already achieved your objective on removing Rodgers for daring to point out that the squad needed improving.

It wasn’t Brendan who appointed Paul Tisdale – formerly of Stevenage Town – to handle our football operations and while he was picking the team he wasn’t going to start substandard players of Tisdale’s choosing. Almost year later we still don’t have a striker to replace Kyogo and in Nancy’s last game he was relying on Johnny Kenny and Shin Yamada to score the goals.

Your son Ross attended the AGM and read out some of your message attacking the Celtic support and that day any remaining credibility you had within the wider Celtic support was destroyed. It’s going to be a long way back.

Maybe even Mission Impossible.

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