The knives are out for Wilfried Nancy, but this time the backlash has swung in the opposite direction. A few pundits tried to turn a tactics board and a pair of green trainers into a crisis at Celtic. Instead, they have been met with a wave of ridicule from some of the most respected voices in the game. CeltsAreHere called it out on Tuesday evening when the article first appeared.

What was meant to be an early dig at Nancy has completely backfired and exposed how absurd the scrutiny around the new manager has already become.

Former Hearts star, Ryan Stevenson’s Daily Record quotes sparked it all. His criticism had nothing to do with shape, approach, or selection. He chose to focus on how Nancy looked on the touchline. Stevenson questioned Celtic’s new manager by writing, “There’s a certain DNA to clubs like Celtic. So when a new manager arrives and starts pulling out tactics boards and green trainers you have to ask yourself, ‘What are we actually dealing with here?’.”

He even suggested that a photo of Nancy speaking to Callum McGregor showed Derek McInnes thinking, “What the hell is this guy all about?” The whole argument was built on optics rather than substance, and it did not take long for people to call it out for what it was.

Soccer Football – Scottish Premiership – Rangers v Celtic – Ibrox, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain – May 4, 2025 Former Celtic player Chris Sutton before the match REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

Chris Sutton, who writes for the Daily Record, publicly rejected the narrative that came from his own newspaper. The former Celtic striker voiced his thoughts on social media on Wednesday and did not hold back.

Sutton wrote, “Having a go at Wilfried Nancy for wearing green trainers and bringing out a tactics board (to try to get a message across to his players who he has barely coached) is one of the dumbest and most backward takes I have ever heard.”

Journalist Graham Spiers added his own take, calling the comments “borderline moronic” before expanding with, “Brain-dead stuff. The sheer dregs of attitude from 20 or 30 years ago. Borderline moronic.”

Their reactions echo how most Celtic supporters feel. Sunday’s result was not good enough, but the hysteria that followed has drifted away from anything rooted in reality.

Celtic FC manager Wilfried Nancy
Soccer Football – Scottish Premiership – Celtic v Heart of Midlothian – Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain – December 7, 2025 Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy before the match REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

Some fans have even joined the noise with their own wild takes about tactics boards, as if a modern coach should avoid communicating with his players during a match in productive ways he sees fit.

If you fall into that group, now is the time to take a breath. Nancy arrived on Thursday. He coached the squad for the first time on Friday. He managed his first match on Sunday. Judge him on his full body of work, not a single ninety minutes.

The rush to condemn the new manager has tipped into farce. Thankfully, plenty of people in the game have been quick to call it out. As have most of fan media and as we pointed out on Tuesday evening, It’s fan media and sites like ourselves who find our access under review from the club while stuff like this gets pedalled.

30 COMMENTS

  1. I’ll now wait for the announcement from Mr.Sutton,that he will no longer be involved with the Daily Rectum …and does not wish to take their money any more…Oh and hopefully it will coincide with a Board announcement confirming that this rag is banned. Might wait a wee while ‘though.

  3. Note to Ryan Stevenson: if you’re the kind of person that thinks a face tattoo is a solid idea then you’re the kind of person that has no concept of good judgement and thus your opinion isn’t worth a damn.

  5. Expect memes & criticism from other teams fans and media, but looking on here on Sunday post-match, a fair number of our own were the worst.
    Nancy may, or may not be a success but no one can make that judgment after 90 MINUTES!!!
    We have too many idiots in our own support without pointing fingers elsewhere.

    • Were you one of the losers standing outside the shithole crying when news broke that the CVA had been hilariously rejected and your club was put 6 feet under?

  10. The amount of time tims talk this stuff,no-one important cares.

    Our trophy room is still bunged,btw.
    Enjoy that.

  11. With another clubs honours, including the ones that had hundreds of matches with players not eligible to play!!
    How fucking desperate must your club be to try to pretend that another clubs trophies are their own!!
    The death of your old club will be talked about from now till the end of time.
    They cheated and died as a result of it.

    • Your daft wee club, 3 trophies in its 13 year existence, out the league cup, out of the Europa Cup already even though there are 2 matches still to play and sit 4th in the league, yet you come on here!!!
      There surely must be plenty of hun sites that you can haunt.
      How sad a life you must have.

  14. Winding me up?
    Seriously?
    All you are showing is how shite your life must be that you have to go on Celtic sites.
    Just a sad pathetic weirdo whose club old died and your current club, who also lost to Roma, are a standing joke.
    All your club have left to compete in this season is the Scottish cup.
    Soon it will be 3 trophies in their 14 season existence.

  18. Angry? No.
    I’m trying to get my head around how pathetic your life must be that its got to the state that you have to go on Celtic sites trying to provoke a response.
    That’s what your life is!!
    By fuck I would be ending mine if it was similar to yours and I found myself haunting hun sites.

  23. I dont watch youtube and you shouldnt be linking to British Broadcasting Corporation
    R u really a tim?.

  26. ‘..I dont watch youtube..’
    That’s desperate patter.
    The clip of the shareholders streaming out of ibrox park is comedy gold.

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