Wilfried Nancy admits 'you are going to think I'm silly' as Celtic boss goes down unexpected route

Somehow he has lost his first four games, the first Celtic manager to endure such a sequence since Stein in 1978, somewhat surprisingly, during the legendary figure's last season at the club. What the same run spells for Nancy, who can say? The slightly rattled Frenchman stood in front of reporters shortly before 11pm at Tannadice following a 2-1 defeat to Dundee United, against whom Celtic hadn't lost in their previous 23 meetings.

Nancy denied he had underestimated Scottish football and explained that he almost signed for Carlisle United when he was a player, so therefore knew what lay in store. It was an unexpected route to go down but then little about Celtic is making sense just now.

“I know Scottish football,” he said. “I know the way it is. I come from France, I come from Europe. I was close to signing for Carlisle when I was a player. I know exactly where I am. It is Scottish football, it is physical. There is a lot of intensity and fight and the referee don’t stop it a lot. You are talking like this but I take it and I know we are improving.”

This was a viewpoint he pressed home again and again. According to him, the performances are getting better. There were some grounds to base this argument on following this latest outing. Celtic could and probably should have been out of sight of United in the opening 20 minutes. As well as Daizen Maeda’s opening goal, they missed gilt-edged chances from Johnny Kenny and Yang Hyun-jun. They paid for this in the second half when goals from Krisztian Keresztes and Zac Sapsford within a three-minute spell, both sourced from corners, overturned Celtic’s lead.

“We had the possibility to score many goals in the first half," said Nancy. "We lost the game in three minutes on the second phase of set-pieces. We were in control of the game and did really good things in attack.

“But again we had tap-ins and can’t score. If you don’t score the game is not over. That’s why it’s difficult to accept. It’s disappointing."

He knows the fans are deeply unhappy. He heard them turn against him, for the first time since his arrival. The board have taken most of the flak, and did so again at Tannadice despite the decision of chairman Peter Lawwell to stand down earlier in the day, but the manager is now in the firing line too.

“Obviously it is difficult to hear that,” he said. “I can understand the frustration. It is new for me too to have four losses in a row. It is also new for the players. It is something we do not want. I can understand they are upset. The only thing I can tell them is that I think tonight we had a good performance and we are missing the goals that would have been good for us and we will keep working on that to win the next game.”

That is against in-form Aberdeen at Parkhead on Sunday. We’ve been saying it since last week, prior to the League Cup final defeat to St Mirren, but defeat really is unthinkable. It might have been possible to fear for Nancy’s chances of even getting that far were it not for the vote of confidence he received from CEO Michael Nicholson just hours before kick-off.

Celtic, it seems, will struggle on. Nancy vowed to rectify the defensive frailties that are hampering his chances of getting that elusive first win. He rejected any suggestion that the job is too big for him.

“People have the right to say things like this but the context when I came, many games coming up in a row, this is the situation," he said, with reference to the unhelpful timing of his arrival amid a challenging run of matches. "Like I said we do not have a lot of time to work but when we work we do it well. It was a good performance but the result was not there.

“It is difficult (personally) for sure,” he added. “I know what I can do and I know as a coach we are judged on results. That is why it is difficult to accept personally. I know we are on the right track. But I have to accept the situation and stand in front of you and if fans are not happy too, I have to take that. Today we were close to having a really good performance.”

January is beckoning more urgently than ever – if he can make it that far. “We know all windows are important for the club,” he said. “I’m really disappointed for the players because we had a really good game and we had clear chances to score.

“You are going to think I am silly but I see a lot of improvement. We are just missing the result.”