Wilfried Nancy calls for more time amid increasing pressure on Celtic boss

Wilfried Nancy made an impassioned plea for time at Celtic ahead of the Old Firm clash with Rangers on Saturday.

The Hoops boss is under enormous pressure with many fans calling for his head after the 2-0 defeat at Motherwell on Tuesday night left him with five defeats from his seven-game tenure to date.

The former Columbus Crew boss has been accused of changing too much with the side since taking over from interim bosses Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney as Celtic sit three points ahead of their Glasgow neighbours and three behind league leaders Hearts.

At his pre-match media conference at the club’s Lennoxtown training ground, Nancy insisted “the board is with me, the club is with me and the players are with me”, and also asked for the context of his late arrival to be considered.

He said: “I know that your job is to attack me or to ask me a lot of questions. No problem with that. This is your job. But again, this is only the beginning.

“Usually, we have four weeks of pre-season, four, five. I didn’t have a pre-season.

“The reality is, before I came, I knew that if I don’t win games, I’m going to be in trouble. Because this is part of the job. OK. But I’m pleased to be here.

“That’s why I said at the Motherwell game that I’m not an underdog, I want my team to compete against any team.

“I knew that this kind of situation happened. So now, as you know, I need time.

“I know that I don’t have time, because this is the way it is in my job.

“So, yes, I want to ask you, give me time, and you see my team.

“You are going see what I’m going to do, because you can see already what I did before, because I didn’t start (coaching) yesterday.

“And when you see fans and people are not happy, and me too, I’m not happy.

“Because I see only a few glimpses of learning, but I’m pleased with that because we have only had 12 or 13 (training) sessions. This is the context.

“So it’s totally normal that you guys, you kill me. I’m fine with that. Because I know where I want to go.

“Judge me in few weeks, months? But if you want to judge me now, you can do it, because it’s a fact that we didn’t have the results that we wanted. I cannot deny that.

“But do your job, look about the way I am as a coach and what I want to bring for the team, and you will see that we are not there yet.”

Nancy continued: “A few players have been here for five, six, seven years. They were doing certain things in a certain way. No kidding that it takes time. Guys, seriously. I’m going to be a liar if I say everything’s happy. Everything is good. No. This is not the case.

“I am not pleased to hear that people don’t like me and so on.

“They have the right to say it because in terms of results, this is not what we want.

“And I know that we cannot be patient in this job, but you’re going to be able to see what I can do. Not I. My team, my players. But for a moment, this is a tornado.

“But I’m ready for that. So this is my message for everyone. This is the reality. It’s totally normal that my players need a bit of time.”