Michael Stewart has claimed he was informed by Celtic players that Wilfried Nancy failed to provide guidance and caused a dressing-room “shambles.”
Following just two victories from eight matches under Nancy, the 48-year-old was dismissed as Dermot Desmond issued another SOS to Martin O’Neill in a chaotic 24-hour period at Celtic Park.
It brought a 33-day nightmare to an end for the Hoops, a spell that saw Premier Sports Cup silverware slip away and the club drop six points adrift of Premiership leaders Hearts.
Sunday’s defeat to Rangers proved to be the breaking point for Celtic’s hierarchy, with Stewart insisting the departing boss left senior players confused. The former Hearts and Hibs midfielder claimed there were “no instructions” given to the squad as Nancy rolled out his controversial 3-4-3 system.
Stewart firmly rejected the idea that a clear football philosophy was communicated, telling BBC Sportsound: “I think instinctively we all just assume there were these magnificent instructions that were being given, but I am led to believe that there was just no instructions.
“There was basically a lack of information. And when you couple it with the whole system being changed; if the system had been kept as was you would have been able to see the core of the team mask the deficiencies over the lack of information that was coming.
“But, when managers come in – and I have said I view it as arrogant – and think that you can rip everything up, change it, and play the league leaders two days later and expect that you are going to get results, and you are not giving clarity; that is when everything breaks down.
“You are asking players to do different things, and asking players to do things they can’t do – I have heard that so much as well – you can’t give the players a complete out here but we forget this is a squad that have dominated Scottish football in large part over the last 10 years.
“These are top class players, there is quality players in there. I don’t think it’s a message that has been too complicated for them, or too high level, I think it’s the exact opposite.”
When pushed on what he had been told by the players, Stewart added: “Shambles, basically. They didn’t know what he wanted.”