NafisaWilfried Nancy has claimed his Celtic players struggled to step outside their comfort zone under his leadership, insisting his much-criticised philosophy went “beyond winning.”
However, the French coach maintains his short-lived 33-day spell at Parkhead was still a “beautiful experience,” even if it may have arrived at the wrong time in his career.
The former Columbus Crew manager replaced Brendan Rodgers after Martin O’Neill had initially stepped in on an interim basis.
But just two victories and four defeats in six Premiership matches, along with a Premier Sports Cup Final loss to St Mirren, forced the Celtic hierarchy to abandon the project and turn back to O’Neill in an emergency return.
That decision could yet prove decisive, with Celtic now set for a title decider against Hearts on the final day of the season.
Things almost unravelled completely under Nancy, who believes parts of the squad were hesitant to fully buy into his ideas.
“When I was at Celtic, I had discussions with many players. They wanted to know when I have the ball,” he told Training Ground Guru.
“So lets say my number six has the ball, they want to know if we play with a 4-3-3, I want to know that the name of my number eight should be there and my number 10 in this position.
“And I said okay, this gives you safety. But I don’t mind about the name. I mind about how you are going to connect with the players around you.
“And this could be difficult with people who don’t want to get out of their comfort zone. They’re struggling a bit with that.
“No coach, I want to play one-touch, two-touch football. No, sometimes you have to take ten touches. ‘Yeah but I’m not confident with that.’
“This is my job to show them video and picture of themself on the pitch, discussion and create exercise for them to express and try things. To show them that it works.
“There’s the voice behind you that is saying if this fails, it’s on you if you make a mistake. That’s why it’s going beyond winning.”
The Frenchman explained that he was brought in specifically to reshape Celtic’s playing identity BECAUSE of his footballing principles.
But he accepts results meant he was not given enough time to fully implement his vision: “Celtic hired me to change that. I’m not a conservative coach, that’s why they hired me.
“We had a plan, everything was clear because I did my due diligence.
“But after that, the pressure, we still had everything in our hands to change things and adjust.
“My idea was not to change everything, it’s impossible. I’m not stupid to come and change everything.
“The idea was to bring something new step by step, or something different.
“But after that, pressure, and it is so huge, that’s why what happened, happened.
“The support I had from the chairman and everyone was huge. But after that, there are results, and we know in our job that it’s difficult if we don’t include them.
“Football is irrational sometimes, so it’s a no brainer to say I didn’t have enough time.”
Despite everything, Nancy insists he holds no regrets.
He added: “Honestly, it was a beautiful experience because first of all, you have the passion,” he said. “I do my job with passion.
“That’s why I love my job and I’m looking for a player to play with passion. In this club and the fans and the city, we can feel it.
“It’s been amazing for that.
“Obviously things could have been better but life is about moments. The moment when I went there, with reflection, was maybe not the good moment.
“The Celtic brand, this is something that I like a lot. That’s why I wanted to go over there, despite the fact that I had many opportunities, with a lot of humility, with different clubs.
“That’s why I put everything into perspective. After that, the pressure is the pressure and they changed their mind.
“But I spent a really, really good time over there.
“I didn’t have enough time to put the way I coach, the way I do things. But this is the way it is.
“I have no bad words regarding what happened over there. It’s part of my journey.”
Nafisa
