A man out of his depth? Or a man with a plan? Sunday now becomes pivotal for the new Celtic boss

“As I say, it’s a catastrophic night for Celtic. How big a blow is this for you and the players?”

Do you remember the night that question was asked to the Celtic manager?

I remember it well, and it came to the forefront of my mind after last night’s defeat to Roma.

That question was put to Ange Postecoglou after Celtic were knocked out of the Champions League by Midtjylland.

It was Postecoglou’s first taste of European football at Celtic, and he was very quick to point out that it was far from catastrophic.

He wasn’t having it, as he responded:

“It’s pretty strong language mate, I don’t know what your version of catastrophic is but it certainly doesn’t fit my definition of what happened tonight.“

Postecoglou went on to state that catastrophic meant “the end”, and as we all well know, that was just the beginning for Ange Postecoglou.

Almost 5 years on, and we’re all very well aware of what Ange Postecoglou achieved after that interview.

Looking at people’s reaction to last night’s defeat to Roma, part of me thinks it’s warranted, and part of me doesn’t.

Yes, many people viewed it as almost catastrophic too, but it needs to be put into context.

So, what I’m going to do is break it down, and try to explain why last night’s result at Celtic Park got the kind of reaction it did.

The first thing that I noted after kick off at Celtic Park was how dead the atmosphere was.

There were 2,500 Roma fans in the away section, and from kick off, they consistently out-sung the home crowd.

On a European night, this is a rare thing at Celtic Park.

There were half-hearted attempts to break into song every now and then, but it never really got going.

The 6th minute goal, and subsequent blow from conceding the way we did ensured that.

Immediately, every body started to comment on how much of a loss the Green Brigade was.

Part of me agrees with that observation, part of me doesn’t.

The Green Brigade represents part of the fan experience at Celtic Park, but not all of it.

They are a segment which sings boisterously, and in turn gets the rest of the crowd going.

Effectively, they are like the conductor of an orchestra.

Without the conductor, the orchestra is unsure of what to do.

But that’s not to say that the rest of the crowd at Celtic Park are completely inept when it comes to creating an atmosphere.

They aren’t, there’s more to it than that.

The general mood at Celtic Park is one of anger, and that was very much in evidence last night.

The fanbase wants to direct it’s ire somewhere.

It feels completely disenfranchised by the board, in addition to that, the board has removed the Green Brigade, so there is an element of solidarity there too.

Attacking one section of the fanbase translates into attacking all of the fanbase.

Whatever you think of the Green Brigade, they are still Celtic fans, and the way they have been treated in the past few week’s has been entirely unwarranted.

The punishment clearly does not fit the crime.

Hence the anger bubbling under the surface of late at Celtic Park.

The board itself has gone into hiding.

Yes, they’ll sit in the Director’s box, and they’ll enjoy all of the trappings of the matchday experience for free, unlike the people around them.

The people who pay to watch the club they love are treated with contempt, sneered at, and considered anti-establishment.

The board refuses to engage with the fanbase, but continuously attacks it from afar.

Either through statements, or by actions, such as bans, barriers around the stadium, and also bans for fan-media.

The only person who communicates on behalf of Celtic is Wilfried Nancy.

Which leads me onto why people are angry about what has transpired in the last two fixtures.

Celtic have lost a top of the table clash to Hearts, and missed out on ensuring qualification to the knock-out stages of the Europa League as a result of last night’s 3-0 defeat to Roma.

Catastrophic?

No, but concerning nonetheless.

The media are at pains to point out that no new Celtic manager has ever lost his first two games at the club.

However, they ignore the fact that no new manager has ever commenced his career at Celtic with the club in such turmoil.

Nancy has walked into Celtic in the midst of the worst crisis at the club, if not the worst, since 1994.

And the fans want somebody to blame.

Since the board is in hiding, results, and the fact that he is the only one speaking on behalf of the club, have now combined to paint a target on Wilfried Nancy’s back.

Is this fair, or unfair?

Well, it’s a bit of both really.

If I was to be critical of Wilfried Nancy, I would say that a transition from 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 might have spared him a lot of grief in his first two games.

I know I’m not alone in sharing that opinion.

But ultimately, Wilfried Nancy is the Celtic boss, so he has to accept responsibility for that decision.

And the responsibility stemming from it is two fixtures played, two fixtures lost.

Which now makes Sunday’s cup final a huge pressure situation for him.

So the question everybody is asking now is this; is Nancy out of his depth, or is he actually a man with a real plan?

And in answer to that, we cannot possibly judge after just two games.

But there’s no doubting he does have a plan, the problem is, it isn’t working for him.

Yet…

Like Ange Postecoglou, he’s very determined to stick to that plan too.

The problem is, it needs to work for him on Sunday.

Because if we if lose that one, any remaining goodwill is going to be very hard to come by.

The fans who already have it in for him after last night, will give him no reprieve if we lose to St. Mirren.

Fair, or unfair?

Sometimes losing in football is never fair, but as Nancy himself said, nobody wants to lose.

Football is about winning.

And for Nancy to kickstart his career at Celtic into life, he needs to win the League Cup.

Because there is no better kickstart than winning a trophy.

If we do that, last night will be forgotten about.

If we don’t, last night just festers, and manifests into further discontent.

As if there wasn’t enough of that at the club already.

Listen, I never expected us to beat Roma, especially after the asset stripping that has gone on at our club.

I think it was more the fashion in which we lost last night that rankles with the fans.

At the risk of employing some Joe Hart uber-optimism, if we’d scored that penalty, and that off-side goal wasn’t disallowed….well, you know what I mean?

I’ll finish on a glass half full note.

We’re still in this title fight, win our game in hand, and we’re joint top.

We’re still alive and kicking in the Europa League, win against either Bologna or Utrecht and we should be in the knockout stages.

Win the League Cup on Sunday, and everybody’s viewpoint changes.

That is why Sunday is now pivotal for Wilfried Nancy.

I’m sure he’s acutely aware of that fact.

I’m also sure the alternative is not in his thought process.

Because it certainly isn’t in mine.

Or any other Celtic fan’s for that matter.

Sunday is where Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic career really begins.

Anything other than a win might just be catastrophic…