'Too much, too soon': McGregor says Wilfried Nancy changes hurt Celtic

Callum McGregor believes Wilfried Nancy was guilty of trying to change too much, too quickly during his ill-fated stint in charge of Celtic.

The Frenchman lost six of his eight matches in charge while steadfastly trying to implement a bold 3-4-3 formation amid a hectic fixture schedule.

McGregor was conspicuous by his absence from media duties for most of Nancy’s disastrous 33-day reign amid speculation that senior players had no faith in the former Columbus Crew manager.

Speaking publicly for the first time since Nancy was sacked earlier this month, the long-serving Celtic captain told Sky Sports on Friday: “I think probably too much, too soon in terms of change, obviously going from a team that is super-aggressive, on the front foot for 10-plus years, the whole time I’ve been here pretty much.

“For me, it was just a little bit too much, too soon in terms of that change and quite a big change away from what the team had been. Not to say that it can’t work, but I think everybody is well aware of the timing, with no pre-season and so many games, so many important games.

“It was a really, really tough situation to come in and have a game every three days where you’re almost learning in the game and we all know that trying to learn in this environment is probably the harshest environment that you can have.”

McGregor is confident Celtic – six points behind leaders Hearts ahead of Sunday’s top-of-the-table showdown – are on their way to recovering from their morale-sapping spell under Nancy.

“As human beings, when you take away that confidence, everybody starts to struggle,” he said. “You have to go to the pitch and have confidence and belief in yourself and ultimately when you lose games that does waver.

“We’re all human beings at the end of the day, so it does affect you. It is really unfortunate that it didn’t work out, but I think we have to draw a line under it now.

“There’s been so many negative stories going about this season and there actually is so much positive to look forward to, so much to play for. The players have drawn a line under it.

“I think now for everyone externally as well, we have to draw a line under it and move forward because if we keep dwelling on it, we aren’t going to achieve what we want to achieve.

“The players are at peace with that and we know we’ve put ourselves in a difficult position, but we’re still in the conversation and we have a huge game to come on Sunday.”