Celtic unravelling into pantomime season as Wilfried Nancy alarm bells grow louder

It was only April. But seven months is a long time in the life of a football club as Celtic prepare to return to face Dundee United. “End this pantomime!” was one of the messages from the Celtic fans at Hampden on Sunday. It was a reference to the continued banning of the Green Brigade but it might easily have applied to the situation in the dugout. It’s already reached must-win territory for Wilfried Nancy. It might even have gone beyond it.

One thing’s for sure, it will be very hard for the Frenchman to explain away a defeat – or even a draw – if that’s what he ends up having to do following just his fourth outing as manager.

Celtic have scored 16 goals and conceded none on their previous four trips to Tannadice, the last of which saw them wrap up the title in considerable style. They were 4-0 up inside 50 minutes and Adam Idah – remember him? – made it 5-0 before the hour mark.

Afterwards manager Brendan Rodgers advised anyone to treat reports linking him with a move elsewhere with extreme caution. In fact, he even upped his initial “150 per cent” certain guarantee about seeing out his contract, due to end in May 2026, to “200 per cent”. Possibly you’ve noticed that he’s just been unveiled as the new head coach of Saudi club Al Qadsiah.

It’s hardly penetrating insight to note how quickly football can move on. But the unravelling at Celtic is nothing short of remarkable. Rodgers isn’t even their last manager. He’s the last-but-one manager.

A few weeks after that 5-0 win at Tannadice Rodgers sat down with reporters to reflect on his career to date. The impetus for this chat was the Scottish Football Writers’ Association manager of the year award that he’d won for only the second time. He pondered the future, long as well as short term. He anticipated hitting 800 games as a manager, which came earlier this season against Kairat Almaty. Arguably, that 0-0 draw, which left Celtic with so much work to do in Kazakhstan, was the beginning of the end for him at Parkhead.

He spoke about wanting to reach 1000 games. That won’t now happen at Celtic and probably won’t in Saudi either. Although he might be inclined to linger in the Middle East for at least two years for tax purposes, he’s likely to want to return to top-flight football in England before too long, if anyone will have him. Steven Gerrard has proved that the Saudi Pro League, for all its riches, is not necessarily a stepping stone to anywhere.

Which brings us back to Nancy and the terrible bind in which Celtic will find themselves if the new manager’s reign is not given some form of kickstart in Dundee.

A defeat to Hearts in his first match was poor but easily attributed to the hospital pass he had been handed by the club’s board for pitching him into such circumstances. AS Roma? Again, almost irrelevant. Few Celtic managers would have emerged with a win from that encounter although they might have earned more credit.

Sunday’s League Cup final defeat to St Mirren, however, is where the serious doubts set in. Not just the defeat, but the manner of it. Celtic were bullied out of contention, yes, but also outplayed. Nancy, for all that he waved his arms about, looked a completely impotent presence on the sidelines. There are already reports of players not having him. Sadly, they are easy to believe.

How many days have been spent on the training ground? Admittedly, not many. The latest was on Tuesday, after which Nancy held his pre-game press conference. “I don’t have to prove anything to anybody,” he insisted. The alarm bells grew louder.

United have not won any of their last seven matches yet they will be relishing this challenge. The pressure on Nancy is increasing daily, not helped by Martin O’Neill’s comments while on talkSPORT on Monday. It was the day after Celtic had lost a cup final. Some might wonder whether it was wise, or indeed fair, for O’Neill to appear on such a public platform in view of the difficulties the man handed the unenviable task of succeeding him is having. O’Neill did not just steady the boat, he also provided the impetus to make up lost ground on leaders Hearts.

Nancy has already lost a six-pointer against the Tynecastle side. O’Neill admitted he could easily have lost that one too but, when asked if he would have been prepared to stay on as long as the cup final, stressed that yes, he would have been. Cue wailing and gnashing of teeth from Celtic fans.

Celtic trained in an eerie-looking mist at Lennoxtown on Tuesday. How fans might wish that when it cleared, things were as they were in April. Rodgers was manager, Jota was still on the wing – he was injured against Dundee United, the last time the teams met – and the living was easy to the extent teammates were trying to set up James Forrest to score his first goal of the season.

Celtic were also on the brink of what most people assumed was a treble. They only had to turn up a few weeks later against Aberdeen at Hampden…

Of course, less appealingly for fans, the same board were in place then, as they are now. What will it take to remove them, which is what the Celtic fans are demanding? Who knows. But the ball will be firmly back in the directors’ - or, more accurately, Dermot Desmond’s - court if, following Celtic’s latest trip to Tannadice, “four-in-a-row” references the number of consecutive defeats under Nancy rather than titles, which is what they clinched the last time they visited the stadium.