GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 01: Celtic CEO Michael Nicholson during a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and Rangers at Celtic Park, on September 01, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Michael Nicholson really is trapped in the ultimate Catch 22 situation.
Everyone inside and outside of football knows that Wilfried Nancy is toast at Celtic. Even Tom English has been able to call this one correctly. It is that obvious.
The former Columbus Crew coach is without doubt Celtic’s worst ever manager.
Even the stats freaks and xG experts have given up making a case for him. Six weeks ago they were dredging up any bizarre stats to prove that Nancy was a hidden gem, the undiscovered Pep, the next big thing in management.
NANCY THE HIPSTER DREAM
He isn’t. He is a bang average hipster dressed up in stats and hype. Zero achievements, zero ability. A soccer-ball coach that hasn’t been near European football in 20 years after playing in the French equivalent of the Lowland League.
At the age of 48 he led Columbus Crew to seventh place in the MLS Eastern Conference in the 2025 season.
Seventh place in a 15 team conference. A record of W14, D9, L11. Goal difference of 55-51. About as bang average as you can get.
Yet Celtic fell for Nancy. Promoted and pushed by Paul Tisdale through a mutual friend in Kwame Ampadu.
Nicholson of course knows nothing about football. He nodded through the appointments of Mark Lawwell and Tisdale. Two men that have cost Celtic many millions, destroying progress and ambitions while bloating the squad and wage bill.
In Nancy the Celtic CEO was convinced it was third time lucky.
Commenting on the appointment of the Frenchman, after the usual fake enthusiasm from former Chairman Lawwell, Nicholson said:
We have been aware of Wilfried and his quality of work for some time – he was our number one candidate when we began the process of appointing a new Manager and we are delighted that he has agreed to join the club.
I know he is hugely excited about this opportunity to be part of Celtic’s future. We will give Wilfried every support to face the challenges ahead, with our aim as always being to deliver the success for the club which our supporters deserve, this season and beyond.
Now it only awaits the timing and form of words on Nancy’s exit.
Another black mark against the non-event Celtic CEO.
Only a complete fool would allow the ‘leading sports lawyer’ near any decision above selecting the biscuits for the next Board meeting.
When Nancy goes he should be accompanied out the door by Nicholson and Tisdale.
As for the Non Executive Directors, every one of them is guilty for allowing this to happen with any alarms being raised.
Should Celtic fans boycott the home match v Dundee United?
YES- We have reached that stage
NO- Faithful through and through


I’m expecting Nicholson to doubledown and announce an extension to Sammy’s contract,just to piss us all off,and basically flicking his 2 fingers up as all.
I expect the statement from Mute Mike was scripted for him, saying all the right things about the No Mark that is Nancy. It just shows how absolutely out of his depth Mute Mike is. I mean Jeez, anyone who has ever encountered the man before his promotion to CEO by his Hero Lawwell, knew that MN is so scarily out of his depth and his appointment as CEO was just to give PL an easy life.
You might want to edit your Bio if you get a chance Joe?
“More than 50 years on from his first match Joe is enjoying the ongoing successes of Celtic” Can’t see much success either at the moment or on the horizon unfortunately…..
If you google those “league table on current form” items, based on the last 6 matches it makes a gruesome sight – Sevco are top, Hibs second and Hearts – despite the hype – only fourth. We are tenth, with only the rudderless Kilmarnock and the moribund Livingston below us. Our recent form is worse than that of Aberdeen, who have just emptied a manager who still should have had some residual goodwill for winning the cup.
Form is temporary, class is permanent as they often say….. but had we been under the coaching of WN all season we might be in a relegation battle now.
If the celtic board don’t remove nancy we’ll have to do it for them…I have absolutely zero sympathy for the man..he know he’s out his depth but stays anyway
Nicholson is a patsy, a useful idiot for Liewell and DD. Gets £800k p.a. to take the heat off the other two. Has no executive decision making discretion of ANY kind. We saw that when he couldn’t go another £200k for McCowan without DD okaying it.
Gormless Nicholson can’t even play the ukulele to the tune of “When I’m Under Achieving Transfer Windows,” or “Leaning On A Goalpost.”
(Nancy) he’s absolutely woeful and purposeless and unbeautiful
And anyone can understand why
Oh me, oh my, Sorry I gave the little French crazy guy a try
Oh me, oh my, I’ll try and write my alibi
It’s turned out sh*te again, hasn’t it?
we all know that one trick is hanging on by his finger nails, wouldn’t you think that those morons would pull plug and try save the season before it’s too late and run him out the door ? how did these eejits ever get in the positions that they now hold , if dd can’t see that the toxic environment at the club is because of these people his place in history at one of the most famous and biggest football clubs in the world will be forever sullied
That Ampadu guy just sits there like a tramp sitting on a park bench trying to get warm
Presumably, ‘world class’ Nicholson conducted a global search:
“…[Nancy] was our number one candidate when we began the process of appointing a new Manager…”
So, how many candidates were actually interviewed then?
A wild guess: one?
===============
And as for the link to signing a player from an israeli club.
I’m reading that as being driven by pure spite from the Board,
against the support who have frequently displayed their support for Palestine over the years.
No business [ especially a plc] – which is careful to avoid PR blunders – should even contemplate
any new business with any israeli organisation at the current time. Obviously.
…but, our Board doesn’t see a problem?
Bed time for me in this part of the world, would like to wake up to a few resignations in the morning but doubt it will happen. The only way to get rid of the parasitic board is educate existing shareholders on where their vote goes, and for those who buy merch or season tickets to buy shares instead. MN, DD and co will bleed the club to death and walk away laughing with supporters money in their pockets. For all the supporters out there scared about losing their ST if they relinquish it to buy shares, look at the Man United scenario that has been unfolding for years, wake up and buy shares in CFC stop waiting on others to do it. Short term pain will be a long term gain for you and the next generation of celts.
Thought this might be useful for some point in the ( hopefully not too distant) future. Needs a couple of name change edits.
Amorim, as a coach, is a system-first coach rather than a player-first coach.
He came into the job with an idea of what he wanted to create, in terms of shape and the roles each player in that shape do.
The Portuguese coach asked his players to learn his system even when they were not natural fits for the roles he expected, refusing to adapt his system to their strengths.
This decision was the source of many of his struggles whilst United boss. If a coach is unwilling to adapt to the players he has and those players aren’t good enough to carry out the roles you ask of them, results won’t follow.
Inheriting a squad built to play a possession-based back four, Amorim opted for a 3-4-3 shape on the ball, encouraging direct play, whilst conceding possession at times.
Amorim wanted his wide centre-backs to step up and carry the ball, becoming involved in the attack when United have the ball, before pressing aggressively off the ball – roles that defenders had to learn. It often meant they found themselves in the opponent’s half, whether aiding chance creation or having to press the player they were marking.
In Amorim’s ideal system, he would play attacking wingbacks on the opposite side to their strong foot, which made Amad a good fit going forward but defensively he struggled in his new role. United lacked a left wing-back who fit Amorim’s criteria with various options being shoehorned into the position.
You could make similar points about most positions in Amorim’s system, with non-signing players not being ideal fits.
On top of that, Amorim drilled his players to play certain passing routines which began to become predictable and removed some of the freedom players had.
Amorim’s reluctance to tweak his system allowed coaches to soon figure out repeatable ways to press United, whilst finding the same spaces to exploit in attack too.
Along with most of the other Internet Bampots, I slag off the SMSM on a frequent basis.
But, surprisingly in The DR, Michael Gannon has penned a few, accurate articles recently,
and his piece today is actually a good read…
[And no, I am not Michael Gannon! 🙂 ]
Astounding Levels of Naivety and Incompetence By a Football Board..
BREAKING NEWS on Sky Sport…. Nancy has been sacked by Celtic. Thank God!!!!!
Nancy, [and his assistants], and Tisdale gone.
3 down, and more still to go.
MN next…?
I wonder if the ARSEHOLES In the press will be pushing wee Davie Escobar for the job now Nancy Bhoy has gone,well they talk him constantly on numerous occasions for the sevco job.
Now it’s only my opinion,so don’t shoot the messenger,he couldn’t be any worse than Sammy Davis jnr.
GONE GONE GONE GONE GONE GONE GONE GONE !!!!!
No.