Q: Does that take a lot of inner belief and inner confidence to trust in yourself, to trust in your staff and know that you put this club on the right path?
Wilfried Nancy, Head Coach of Celtic FC speaks to the media during a Celtic FC Press Conference at Celtic Park on December 10, 2025 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Wilfried Nancy: “As a coach, you have to be like that. As a leader, not a coach. As a leader. If you are not convinced that this is the way, you’re going to start to talk and the credibility that you should have, you will not have it. So this is part of the job and I am not a coach. I am a coach when I help my players to find the good foot to control or the good decision-making. But I am a leader. And a leader is to understand the context, is to have belief and is to merge this belief with the context and also to embrace adversity. This is, with a lot of humility, something that I try to do. I’m not saying it’s easy. But I’m saying that this is who I am and I believe that this is the best way for myself to be coherent and to do what I believe that is good for our team to win games.”
Q: There was a lot of outside noise around you using a tactics board on the side of the park. Does that reaction surprise you?
Wilfried Nancy, Manager of Celtic, looks on during a Celtic FC Training Session at Lennoxtown Training Centre on December 10, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Wilfried Nancy: “People have the right to talk. So I’m going to dress one way, maybe he’s going to say that they don’t like the way I dress. So I don’t waste time on that. If I use it, it’s because it’s good for me. Simple as that. And I don’t think that I’m going to use it all the time. But I’m not worried.”
Q: This is your European debut, a match against Roma. Do you know what to expect in terms of atmosphere and the challenge the opposition will present?
Wilfried Nancy, Manager of Celtic, looks on during a Celtic FC Training Session at Lennoxtown Training Centre on December 10, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Wilfried Nancy:“First of all, the first game, it’s an honour for me to play in the Europa League. But also, with a lot of humility, don’t forget that I’ve been a runner-up for the Champions League in CONCACAF. So I know what that means. Now I come from Europe, I know how to play in Europe and obviously this is different. But again, with a lot of humility, this is something that I’m looking forward to.
“Obviously, Gian Piero Gasperini, the coach of Roma, this is a coach that I respect a lot because the way he plays, his style of play, this is something that I studied many years ago. So I’m really excited to play, to have my debut here at home and really excited by this challenge.”
Q: You said your job is to find solutions and then prioritise. What is your immediate priority?
Wilfried Nancy, Manager of Celtic, looks on during a Celtic FC Training Session at Lennoxtown Training Centre on December 10, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Wilfried Nancy: “My priority is to be coherent with what I believe that we can do to maximise our chance to win. This is that. After that, I have a long list like that, and the idea is to assess the player that I have, assess the context, assess the fact that we’ve been together only for one week and after that I have to prioritise. So instead of doing an example, an exercise that I like to do with 0 to 10, 10 on 10 in terms of complexity, I will not do it. I will do it only the five.
“And also, I’m not here to change everything because during the pre-season you can do it when we have five weeks, four weeks or three weeks. So this is the case. Again, I have to be smart and also pragmatic at certain moments to be able to be coherent with the team that I have at this moment.”
Wilfried Nancy, Manager of Celtic, looks on during a Celtic FC Training Session at Lennoxtown Training Centre on December 10, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Q: Do coaches also have to be adaptable?
Wilfried Nancy: “Yes. I believe that the strongest, this is the people who are able to adapt to change. So for me, this is my philosophy. I’m not saying that I’m going to change what I believe, but I’m saying that I have to understand everything to be able to prioritise and after that we’ll see what I need to do to get better.”
Watch Wilfried Nancy’s second pre-match media conference, ahead of tonight’s Europa League match between Celtic and Roma at Celtic Park, below…
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