Wilfried Nancy Has To Win Title Warns Ex-England Star

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Former England international Nicky Butt is of the view that new Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy has to win the Scottish Premiership following the departure of Martin O’Neill and is virtually on a hiding to nothing.

 

O’Neill came in as interim boss after Brendan Rodgers left the club, when tensions between the Celtic board and the Northern Irishman saw him resign.

 

The experienced O’Neill managed to steady the ship with a perfect domestic record, and also guided the team to the Scottish League Cup final, knocking out rivals Rangers in the semi-final.

 

 

Nancy, who was brought in from MLS side Columbus Crew, highlighted that he knew what was expected of him as Celtic manager in his first interview with the club.

 

Results however, have not gone in Nancy’s favour, as he started with a 2-1 loss against title rivals Hearts, followed by a thrashing versus Roma in the Europa League and then suffered a defeat against St. Mirren in the Scottish League Cup final.

 

 

After the loss against Roma, former Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart claimed that Nancy might not know what he has walked into.

 

 

Now that O’Neill, who is a legendary figure at Celtic Park, has left the club in a great position for Nancy, former England star Butt, believes that the new Celtic boss has to win the Scottish Premiership title.

 

 

Butt remarked that Nancy is on a hiding to nothing after a disastrous start at the club and will have to win the league to satisfy his appointment ahead of O’Neill.

 

 

“With the new manager, he is following a legend at that football club and he is on a hiding to nothing after what Martin did when he went back for that short period of time”, Butt said on No Tippy Tappy Football.

 

 

“And again, I’ve never been a manager, but you look at the big picture and you are thinking, ‘if I go into that club, unless I win that league, I am finished, I am not good enough, I’ve followed a god in that era, in that club, in Martin’.

 

“He has gone and won seven out of eight.

 

“He is on hiding to nothing, it is a madness for him to take that for me.”

 

After O’Neill’s recent revelation that he would have been ready to stay on as Celtic boss, pressure will only increase on Nancy.

 

Celtic are not far away from Hearts at the moment, with only three points between the two clubs, and Nancy will aim to snap out of the current losing streak to chase them down.

 

Nancy faces a huge task to convince the Celtic faithful of his capabilities and according to journalist Hugh Keevins, he might not have much backing in the January window to do so.

 

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