Wilfried Nancy sends message to Celtic fans after Old Firm defeat to Rangers

Wilfried Nancy says he’s confident he can turn Celtic’s fortunes around and ‘things will work out’ eventually, despite the club slumping to yet another defeat at the hands of bitter rivals Rangers.

The Bhoys started brightly and took an 19th-minute lead through Yang Hyun-Jun, who scythed through Rangers’ defence before unleashing an emphatic strike beyond Jack Butland to take the roof off Celtic Park.

But Rangers launched a spirited fightback after a limp first-half display and the visitors were rewarded for their efforts as Youssef Chermiti scored twice in the space of ten minutes to turn the Old Firm derby on its head.

Tottenham loanee Mikey Moore increased the deficit with a cool finish in the 71st minute and Danny Rohl’s men preserved their 3-1 advantage to go level with Celtic on 38 points in the Scottish Premiership table – six points adrift of leaders Hearts.

The result means Celtic have now lost six of their eight matches since Nancy departed Columbus Crew to take over the reins as head coach at the start of December.

To put that into some sort of perspective, Martin O’Neill won seven of his eight games at the helm while serving as Celtic’s interim manager before the Frenchman’s arrival.

Loud boos and jeers were heard in the crowd as referee Steven McLean blew his whistle to signal full-time and hundreds of furious Celtic fans gathered outside the stadium to protest against the board after the game.

It remains to be seen who will be in charge when Celtic return to action against Dundee United next weekend, with the pressure mounting on an already under-fire Nancy.

Asked if he could understood the scrutiny on his position, Nancy told Sky Sports: ‘Yes, I can understand it is part of my job.

Pressed on whether he was at all ‘worried’ for his future at the club, Nancy replied: ‘No, nothing changed.

‘The focus is to make my players to be better and my team, my staff to be better, and to find a way to turn things around.

‘Like I’ve said, we are really close to doing good things but we concede goals sometimes and it’s difficult.’

Despite Celtic’s latest setback, Nancy insisted he saw ‘many, many good things’ in his side’s performance.

‘The “we not me” is here, have a look at the performance again. After that, there is details, details at certain moments,’ he added.

‘So again, the commitment, the desire to play, the desire to compete, the desire to fight.

‘I know [the results are not there] but, for the moment, the situation is regarding what we do.

‘So the results… yes, I want to win games, we all want to win games, but this is the reality for the moment.

‘But I see many, many good things and that’s why the frustration is there, because we deserve better.

‘We have to stay together and everything’s going to move forward.’

Asked if he had a message for Celtic supporters, Nancy said: ‘[We will] keep working, keep doing what we want to do and things will work out for us.’

Sky Sports pundit Jackie McNamara felt Rohl ‘won the game at half-time’ and completely outclassed Nancy with his tactical approach in the second period.

Reacting to Nancy’s post-match interview, the ex-Celtic and Scotland defender said: ‘What he’s saying there is that it’s small margins. Yes, there were chances there and, as he said, it could have easily been 4-0 to Celtic. But it wasn’t.

‘It’s at the other end and it’s adjusting to changes that the opposition make.

‘For me, Danny Rohl won the game at half-time with the decisions he made, pushing the Celtic wing-backs up there.

‘Celtic never changed anything. Even when it was 2-1, 3-1, they didn’t change their shape.

‘So they’ve got three centre-backs, two wing-backs, and it effectively becomes a five against three when you’re chasing the game.’

More to follow.

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