It’s not a good time for Celtic fans by any means. Since the defeat by Aberdeen in last May’s Scottish Cup final it’s been a downward slope. Realising now that the club is following a route set out by a gamble at Rangers isn't going to help at all.
Sunday’s League Cup final defeat has deepened the crisis at Celtic Park even more. It has put the spotlight fully on the decision to appoint Wilfried Nancy as manager. Especially after Martin O’Neill had restored some order, confidence, and got the side to that said cup final.
Nancy's got good credentials in the MLS, but it takes more than that to manage Celtic. Looking back, it seems the board took a major risk by appointing him and followed the Rangers' example. And that's a surprise, and worrying, for many reasons.
Rangers appointed a pleasant, mild-mannered Russell Martin as their new manager in the summer. He wasn't their fans' first choice by any means. But the executives admired the way he set his teams up and the style of football he wanted to play. The experiment fell apart quite quickly, and it feels like we are watching history repeat itself, at Parkhead this time around.
Celtic copied Rangers error and are paying the price for it already
The fans turned against Martin almost from the off. The results were poor. The philosophy behind his football may have looked good on paper, but it didn't work on the pitch. A key issue was that the squad of players he had available just couldn't make his plans work.
Fairly quickly it became clear a departure was inevitable, and Martin was sacked. It wasn't quick enough for many Rangers fans, and too soon for Celtic fans. But it was still a fairly rapid turnaround in football terms.
Now we see Celtic stepping out on that same path. Despite seeing where the Rangers’ experiment fell apart. Nancy certainly wasn't well-received when appointed. To be fair, though, many Hoops fans reserved judgment to give him a chance. He also brought an attractive sounding philosophy and style. One that seemed to convince the board enough to hand him the job without any prior experience of managing in Europe, let alone a club of this size.
The fans were cautious but Nancy talked about just changing nuances to begin with. That seemed sensible at this stage of the season. And especially with big games against Hearts, AS Roma, and St Mirren approaching.
Then the teamsheets emerged, the confusion on the pitch unfolded, and both fans and players were left bewildered. The supporters were stunned and disappointed by the loss to Hearts. Defeat by Roma showed the team again struggling with the new setup. The St Mirren loss was for many the final straw in terms of Nancy.
The momentum from O’Neill’s spell in charge is gone. Stories of player arguments and disruption have fuelled more anger from fans. Bewildering media interviews by Nancy have fuelled rather than calmed the situation.
Even this early it’s hard to see a way back for Nancy. Winning a game soon would help, starting at Dundee United on Wednesday preferably, but it is unlikely to be enough. The Celtic board does seem to have followed that Rangers example and perhaps taken an even bigger risk, At the same time, learning nothing from the quick end of the Martin era at Ibrox.
The worry is that they won’t move as swiftly to remove Nancy. They are unlikely to want to admit their error, not so soon anyway. They’ll likely feel that with a few new signings in January, players who can match the Frenchman's way of playing, he may be able to turn things around.
Of course, the track record in transfer windows is pretty dire, but the situation may well force matters this time. We can only hope it’s a very effective window, of similar proportion to Ange Postecoglou’s era at least.