With Wilfried Nancy expected to be officially unveiled as Celtic manager in the coming days, Martin O’Neill has urged the incoming boss to understand the scale of the task and the uncompromising expectations that come with the job.
The interim gaffer said that Thursday night would be his last European game in the dugout with Celtic.
His assistant, Shaun Maloney, could stay on as a coach in the new set-up, with Nancy keen to have a local coach who knows the league well.
The Frenchman is set to take charge after Thursday’s trip to Feyenoord and Sunday’s match at Easter Road, with O’Neill signing off after a whirlwind but steadying stint as interim boss.
And while Nancy arrives with a strong reputation for style and development, O’Neill stressed that nothing – absolutely nothing – matters more at Celtic than winning immediately.
With Celtic already chasing Hearts and Rangers picking up form, the Hoops can’t afford any more slip-ups in the league.
He said: [SunSport]
“He has to win, and he has to win right from the off. You’ve got to win. Celtic over the last 20 years have obviously been the dominating force in Scottish football. But honest to God, it would be the exact same message for the new manager going in at Rangers.
“First of all, winning gives you a bit of respite, and then it gives you a chance to build a team in your manner, whatever that manner may be. It’s all of those things. Style will definitely come later. This idea that you impose a style… For instance, the young fella Ruben Amorim at Manchester United, they are saying he wants to impose a system, but you have to work with the players.
“That would be my only advice. You work with the players that you have, and if you win often enough, then either if you win and you think, ‘Well, winning that way was pretty good, so we’ll try and stick with that’. Or you impose your own personality and your own style of play at the football club.”
Martin O’Neill has already warned him not to get involved in the civil war at Celtic.
When Ange came in, he wasn’t getting the results straight away, but you could see by the performances that it was only a matter of time before Celtic started blowing teams away, and that did happen.
Nancy will undergo a complete system overhaul, switching the formation and the style. It could take time, but whether Celtic can afford that time is unlikely.
