Access Denied – Welcome to Celtic Wilfried, Football Without Fans is Nothing

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Wilfried Nancy

Celtic Unveil new manager Wilfried Nancy at Lennoxtown Training Centre on December 05, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Big shoes to fill. Martin O’Neill was here in interim charge and he has helped turn Celtic season around. I know that you have had the chance to meet Martin. What did he say to you, what advice did he give you and what to expect with the challenge at Celtic? 

Wilfried Nancy:  “You know Martin better than me, I know his as a coach obviously but I didn’t know him personally. He’s a wise guy. I was asking questions about the past, the first time, and when he came back and I can tell you he had more pressure when he came back, because he created a lot of memories here and he didn’t want to fail. But he did a really good job and I am happy as I watched many of the games. The joy of playing was back, I’m not saying the joy was not there when Brendan was here but you know, sometimes there’a a cycle. The idea is to be humble and keep going with what they did, at the same time there are nuances, regarding the way we see football. But a really good session with Martin. What a man!”

Wilfried Nancy

Celtic Unveil new manager Wilfried Nancy at Lennoxtown Training Centre on December 05, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: It’s quite a first few weeks for you. You’ve got Hearts, a top of the table clash, Roma in the Europa League on Thursday then a first chance of silverware in the Premier Sports Cup Final next Sunday. How are you feeling about all of that? Three massive games in a week? 

Wilfried Nancy:  “Excited. The way I am as a person, when we have a challenge in front of us. If you don’t have a challenge it would be boring because we need challenges.  I’m excited. I’m excited by that. I know it’s going to be good games. The way I see things, every game are good games. We play against a style of play, not the name of the team. We know what we have in front of us, what we want to do, and we’re going to take it game by game and we’ll see what happens.”

Wilfried Nancy

Celtic Unveil new manager Wilfried Nancy at Lennoxtown Training Centre on December 05, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: What have you been told about what you must achieve here at Celtic in the short and long term and with that have you been promised funds in January to improve the squad, something that both Brendan Rodgers and Martin O’Neill said was required?

Wilfried Nancy:  “In each organisation, the idea is to improve. We know we have a window coming but first of all  I am going to assess the team and to know them a little bit better. I’ve watched many games now so this is about knowing them as a person and after that we’ll see what is best for the team. I like to take my time but I know we don’t have a lot of time. We want to find the profile we need to progress.”

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About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor David Faulds has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email [email protected]

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10 Comments

  1. Its a shame that responsible fan media wasn’t given access, however, elements of fan media can’t be trusted at present to conduct themselves in a responsible manner. As is frequently leveled at the board, no one is bigger than the club, which is true and also includes the certain fan groups that wrongly think they can speak for all fans.

    • So we are back to collective punishment? If any fan media outlet break the agreed rules then of course they could suffer the consequences as Celtic could say you broke this or that rule so you are banned for however long. I don’t listen to the podcasts, with the occasional except, but I do know that The Celtic Star hasn’t broken the rules. I don’t take from the message I received yesterday from the club that they are saying that we did – but obviously they feel that some outlet or outlets have and therefore they have withdrawn access to all sites. There are Celtic supporters in the North Curve who weren’t even at that Falkirk game who have found themselves banned via the first example of collective punishment.

      • Big Jock would have been equally quick to tell the kids who masquerade as fans that they should either grow up or get out of the way to make room for real fans. THATS what the Big Man meant when he said football is nothing without fans!
        REAL FANS
        Not wee nappy filling whiners!

    • He would have wondered why the board of your old club that died shoved fans into a death trap. Ignoring what happened twice in the decade before.
      Disgusting club that died hilariously