Wilfried Nancy can be pardoned for Carlisle clanger but Celtic fate could rest on an Aberdeen corner kick

We were standing in the concourse of the Eddie Thompson Stand at Tannadice Park when Nancy was asked the fateful question: have you underestimated Scottish football? At nearly 11 pm on a chilly night in Dundee, few people’s thoughts would be cogent, particularly when speaking in one’s second language and having already listened to chants expressing the wish that you lose your job, with immediate effect.

Having to hear elated choruses of "Sacked in the morning!", the pantomimic ritual of opposition fans when relishing a victory over struggling opposition, is one thing. However, when your own supporters are joining in and demanding you to get to you-know-where with a viciousness that’s hard to ignore, it must be unbelievably challenging. So equating nearly signing for Carlise United with knowing Scottish football can be easily pardoned.

Nancy, for the meantime, is hanging on. Even Thierry Henry, of all people, has leapt to his defence, urging people to let him “cook” a little longer. Of course, everyone knows what he meant but the word did conjure an image of Nancy being flayed alive, which is what has been happening over recent days. Losing a cup final against St Mirren was bad enough but being beaten by Dundee United four days later, having been 1-0 up at half time, was a new level of ignominy. The reaction was vicious in some places.

For a spell on Thursday, it seemed as though Nancy was done. Stick a fork in it, Thierry. Reports circulated on social media that he was already in talks to end his two-week stay at Celtic Park. The delay in him arriving, attributed to work visa difficulties, was unnecessary. He could just have said he was visiting on holiday.

But he’s still here, rightly so. Could Celtic really regard themselves as a serious football club if they ditched a manager after four games? They might have wanted to, but this thought, combined with CEO Michael Nicholson’s peculiarly timed ‘vote of confidence’ pre-match on Wednesday, means they were almost compelled to stick by their man.

Nancy, speaking after the game against Dundee United, had already previewed this weekend’s clash v Aberdeen while not being certain he would even still be in place for it.

But we now know he will be. He will have had a further four days to rectify the problems bedevilling his reign to date. One of the (very reasonable) explanations for such a disastrous start is lack of time on the training pitch with his players.

Despite having had a game the previous night, the players were out on the Lennoxtown grass on Thursday. The first drill, surely, was how to defend corners, having lost five goals from such set-pieces under Nancy already. “This is one of the most difficult things for a manager,” he said. “A set-piece is not so much about technique or tactics, it is mental. It is 10 seconds.”

Scrutiny will be fierce if and when Aberdeen win a corner on Sunday. Nancy said on Wednesday it’s his job “to find solutions”. It’s entirely possible that he will do. After all, they have corners in Major League Soccer and he proved he can coach there.

Celtic will seek to take advantage of opponents coming off the back of a tough European trip, the way teams often try to do with them. Aberdeen are hurting after a 3-0 defeat to Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic capital that left them 35 out of 36 teams in the Conference League. They will also be weary.

Celtic have of course also played in midweek but were spared a significant journey. Can they, or at least Nancy, afford to lose for the fifth time in succession, especially at home? It was well documented on Wednesday that the Frenchman had become the first Celtic manager to lose four games in a row since Jock Stein in January 1978. So what happened in the fifth game? Celtic swept aside Dundee 7-1 in a midweek Scottish Cup tie following a couple of free weekends due to postponements because of snow and rain.

Celtic did, however, lose a fifth successive league game when they eventually returned to Premier Division action near the end of February, going down 2-1 at home to St Mirren. It left them third bottom of the then ten-team league. Relegation isn’t an issue now, of course. But finishing third in a supposed one-horse race where they are the one horse is a concern. Rangers are somehow pulling results together under Danny Rohl.

As for Nancy, it already looks very bleak. A list of other permanent top-flight managers to have lost their first four games in charge in the last 30 years was doing the rounds on social media a couple of days ago. They included Jim Duffy at Hibs and Jim McIntyre at Dundee as well as Daniel Stendel at Hearts.

While some of the names mentioned stayed on longer than others in the bid to turn things round after such awful starts, none of them ended up being long-term answers at the relevant clubs. Nancy will be bucking a trend if he manages to make a success of things at Parkhead. If he does prevail perhaps he can have the last laugh and change his profile picture on X to one of him standing next to a sign saying ‘Carlise’.

“I know exactly where I am,” he said at Tannadice on Wednesday. We all know where he is. Or at least what he's in. It’s how he intends to get out of this mess that will define his stay in Scotland.