Celtic's Next Potential Manager

After falling eight points behind Hearts in October following a 3-1 defeat at Tynecastle, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers resigned after a second spell of seemingly endless success at the club, winning two league titles, a Scottish Cup and a League Cup.

Martin O’Neil and Shaun Maloney have come in on an interim basis to steady the ship while the club search for a replacement for Rodgers. Some of the rumoured candidates have been the likes of Ange Postecoglou, Nicky Hayen, Kieran Mckenna and Kjetil Knutsen.

Martin O'Neil - Current Celtic interim boss

But I believe the most interesting and perhaps the most likely candidate is Columbus Crew manager Wilfried Nancy. The 48-year-old born in Le Havre has had a pretty successful managerial career so far over in America and Canada. A man who’s season in the MLS has now ended, and Celtic wouldn’t have to fork out a fortune to get,

In his first managerial position, Nancy led CF Montréal to the final of the 2021 Canadian Championship, beating Toronto FC 1–0. Nancy finished the 2022 regular season with the second-best record in the East, while setting numerous franchise-records including 20 wins (with an MLS record 11 away wins) and 65 points in the regular season.

Following a playoff semi-final loss in 2022, Columbus Crew paid compensation to CF Montréal and announced Nancy as their new head coach, where he still manages today. At the Crew, Nancy led them to a third-place finish in his first season, playing what was described as an attractive, possession-based style. Following this, they beat reigning champions LAFC to win the MLS, making Nancy the first black coach to ever do so. They then went on to win the Leagues Cup and reach the final of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, becoming just the 4^th American club to do so. Nancy was also named MLS Coach of the Year for the 2024 season.

Wilfried Nancy - Columbus Crew and potential next Celtic boss

This makes for an impressive CV which could impress the Celtic board without forcing them to go all out on a big name and splash the cash. Despite this, many fans may look at the level of competition he has managed in, lack of vast experience, especially in Europe or his win percentages at both clubs, which are hardly record breaking. At Montréal he won 37 out if 79 games, a 46%-win rate. With the Crew, he won 69 out of 136 games, a 50%-win rate. Many fans have stated that they may be disappointed with this appointment and claiming that he may just be another Ronny Deila.

I personally would like to see Celtic take this approach with a manager as he plays a good style of football, he is a winner at both of his previous clubs and he has worked under hard conditions, e.g. the Crew have the 18^th highest wage budget in the MLS.

The obvious comparisons to Ange Postecoglou come from the fact that it’s a left field appointment, not coming out of a major league in Europe, not a household name and that he is a winner everywhere he has been. The style of play is similar as well with Nancy wanting his team to “look forward, run forward and pass forward, similar to Ange’s fast, high press attacking football. The main difference being that Nancy likes to play a back three, a style not predominantly adopted by a Celtic manager since Martin O’Neil’s first stint 20 years ago. Neil Lennon tried the 3-5-2 for a few month spell but the success of that system faded fast in the 20/21 season.

Celtic could do much worse than hiring Wilfried Nancy and as they sit 7 points behind Hearts, they need a man to get them back on track and that man could certainly be Nancy.