“I don’t believe in luck, but since I’m here, I don’t have luck!” Wilfried Nancy

It was wonderful to get back to winning ways yesterday against Aberdeen at Celtic Park and for our manager it must have been a huge relief given the most difficult of starts he’s had for any manager in our club’s history…

Conall McGinty’s reflections on yesterday’s game is well worth a read and matches my own take on what has happened and where we are at the moment, plus where we need to go as a support. That means getting behind Nancy and the team to make sure we are going to win the league.

After the 3-1 victory over Aberdeen Wilfried Nancy spoke to the mainstream media, with The Celtic Star and other fan media outlets banned by the Celtic Board who can’t accept scrutiny. Here’s everything that was said in the media room after the match…

Q: When Aberdeen scored the goal, did you worry it was going to be another one of those days, because the team had played so well and should have been out of sight?

Wilfried Nancy: “I didn’t want to think about this. What I told my players, I’m really proud of what they did. Obviously, we had so many chances, and there could have been many, many goals. Suddenly, against 10 men, you concede a goal like this, I think we could have been down, but they didn’t do it.

“They kept attacking, attack, attack, attack, with waves, waves and waves. I think that the two goals that we scored are the reward of the grit and the resilience that they showed. Knowing the fact that, obviously, we lost so many games and they were able to come back and to be shown, this is something that I really enjoyed seeing.”

Q: Were you feeling a bit cursed at that point? Obviously, you’ve hit the woodwork three times, six, seven good chances, 31 shots on goal today. Were you fearing that luck has gone against you at this point in time?

Wilfried Nancy: “I don’t believe in luck, but since I’m here, I don’t have luck! It’s been true because when we played Hearts, the way they scored the goal, after that, against Roma, we missed the penalty kick. After that, we hit the post almost every game that we played. But again, for me, the most important thing is the resilience that my players had. If you watch the first goal that we scored, we lost the ball, and after that, three, four, five players tried to win the ball back. After that, we won the ball, and we scored. For me, it is important to see that, because this is the spirit that I want to see.”

Q: Obviously, we spoke about resilience and the character the players showed, but is it just as pleasing for you, the overall performance? Because it looked as if the players were really getting to grips with what you were asking them to do?

Wilfried Nancy: “Yes, but to be honest, while we didn’t have the outcomes, as I said before, I saw a lot of improvement every game. We didn’t have a full performance, regarding the 90 minutes, but all the games that we had, we had at least one really good half. Tonight, obviously, we had a complete half with difficult moments, because the game is dynamic, it’s like that. But again, I like the way we scored goals, but I also like the courage that they had.

“I think that they understand me when I talk about this. When I talk about personality, it’s about showing in the difficult moments. Tonight, my players did it; they did it in the past, they did it two games ago, they did it three games ago, but they didn’t have the outcome. So that’s why this is so difficult to control that, because we should have had more wins. But no, like I said, every time I was able to see improvement. So that’s why today I’m really happy for my players.”

Continues on the next page…

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.”

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.

“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.”

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.”

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.”

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🍀 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

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