Kieran Tierney and James Forrest celebrate during the Premier League match between Celtic and Aberdeen at Celtic Park on December 21, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Q: How pleasing was it, with 10 minutes to go, when the crowd all got behind the team, they didn’t turn on them? You’ve seen maybe the bad side of the pressure of being Celtic manager, but they were right with you?
Wilfried Nancy: “No, but again, I’ve seen that before. I was a player before, and also, like I like to say, football is football, the passion with the fans, and I respect that, and I like that, because I respect the fans so much. The game is a movie, so it’s dynamic. Sometimes you have good moments, sometimes you’re going to have bad moments, and sometimes this is the relationship that we have with the fans, and they want our best.
“That’s why, for me, this is important to play for them. And this is what they did, my players, because they showed personality in the difficult moments. The fans wanted to have more, and they stayed on the task, and they kept going. And for me, it is really important to be like that.”
Celtic Park. Celtic v Aberdeen, 21 December 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)
Q: Will it be easier to convince the players of what you want them to do?
Wilfried Nancy: “To be honest, like I said, after each game, I watch the game, and I take time for that, two or three hours sometimes. Action by action, cycle after cycle, because I want to be really specific. I don’t like to talk, I like to show things. And since the beginning, when I came here, after our first game, I showed them clips where we did really good things but the outcome was not there. Every time, I was able to show them good things, and I was also able to show them things that we need to improve. And the idea was to be coherent, and to accept that we’re going to get difficult moments.
Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy reacts during the Premier League match between Celtic and Aberdeen at Celtic Park on December 21, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“Nine games in 27 days – this is so difficult. They didn’t play so much, so it’s going to be next week, the first week, with only one game. When I came, I put my shoes in the shoes of my players. New coach, they were winning, suddenly they lose. New methodology, new ways of doing things. It’s totally normal that something like this happens. My job was to show them what they did well, what we need to improve, and to be honest with them. Tonight, we have the outcome, but as I said before, we deserve more wins. Today was the day, so I cannot explain, but this is the situation.
“We gave everything, and I think that the challenge that I gave them, the last game, we lost the game in three minutes. But I don’t think that we gave everything during the set-piece. And for me, this is all the kind of fact that I like to show to my players, to see where they are, and to see where we want to go.”
Celtic Park. Celtic v Aberdeen, 21 December 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)
Q: Do you also have a clearer idea now, after five games, of what this team requires in the January transfer window?
Wilfried Nancy: “Yes, that’s why I came at this moment. I could have come a little bit later. But now, with the club, we decided that it was the moment because I needed time to assess the team and to evaluate. So if I was thinking about myself, maybe I could have been a little bit later. But the timing is the timing. So that’s why I accept all the things that happened. This is new for me to have four losses. This is new for the players to have four losses. Again, we have to go through that to see what we have to do. The character of the team, the personality of the team, the personality of the players, and so on, and so on, and so on.”
The Bhoys and The Invisibles – Celtic Park. Celtic v Aberdeen, 21 December 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)
Q: In terms of recruitment then, are the wheels turning now in terms of bringing in players early in January? Or where are you at this stage? At what point are you at just now?
Wilfried Nancy: “As I said, analyse the team. After that, we’ll see what we need. And my first job is to analyse the players, what we have here. And after that, we’ll see who we’re going to bring, if we need to bring someone.”
🍀 Celtic secured their first victory in five under new boss Wilfried Nancy after a 3-1 win over 10-man Aberdeen, with James Forrest scoring in his 17th consecutive season ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/iGJ4d1Bl39
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) December 21, 2025
