Celtic sack Wilfried Nancy after six defeats in his eight games in charge

Celtic have sacked Wilfried Nancy after eight games – and six defeats – in charge.

Head of football operations Paul Tisdale has also left his position in the wake of Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat by Rangers.

The club announced they had “decided to terminate the contract of manager Wilfried Nancy with immediate effect”, 33 days after bringing him in from Major League Soccer side Columbus Crew.

A statement added: “The club thanks Wilfried for his efforts and wishes him and his family well for the future.

“Wilfried’s assistants, Kwame Ampadu, Jules Gueguen, and Maxime Chalier, will also be leaving the club and they take with them our good wishes.

“The club can also confirm that Paul Tisdale has left his position as head of football operations.”

Fans protested against the board outside Celtic Park after the derby defeat, but the departures will not alleviate much pressure on the Celtic board, who have come under fire over the club’s transfer dealings over the past 12 months among other issues.

They are now looking for their fourth manager of the season after the earlier departure of Brendan Rodgers, who was also frustrated over transfer business, and Martin O’Neill’s interim spell.

The 73-year-old’s caretaker role ended up being longer than Nancy’s reign and both presided over eight matches. O’Neill won seven, while Nancy only managed victories over Aberdeen and Livingston.

The Frenchman became the first Celtic manager to lose his opening two games when he lost to Hearts and Roma and oversaw the club’s worst run since 1978 when they went down to St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup final and then Dundee United.

Nancy came under serious criticism for his decision to immediately implement his preferred formation, but he never backed down other than from some minor tweaks.

After back-to-back wins, Celtic were well beaten by Motherwell before their second-half collapse against Rangers.

Nancy pleaded for time ahead of the derby and claimed afterwards the team were “really close to things turning around”.

However, there was little evidence his Celtic players were getting to grips with his system, which was based on a three-man defence, wing-backs and two advanced central midfielders supporting a lone striker.

Celtic shipped 18 goals in eight games, one more than they had conceded during the opening 24 games of the season.

They looked vulnerable in defence and players looked unclear of their roles. Captain Callum McGregor was unable to influence play in the new system and Nancy’s communication skills failed to instil confidence.

Midfielder Luke McCowan, who had played as a wing-back, failed to give whole-hearted backing to Nancy when asked if the players were behind him after the defeat by Rangers.

“We have to be, he’s the manager,” he said. “I don’t know what else to say on it, but he is the manager. So what do we do? We just need to be together, collectively get better.”

Tisdale’s departure will also be welcomed by supporters. The former Exeter and MK Dons manager was appointed in October 2024 after a spell working as a consultant.

However, the two transfer windows he oversaw resulted in a clear downgrading of quality in the forward areas.

Celtic sold main strikers Kyogo Furuhashi and Adam Idah last year but struggled to replace them.

The only experienced arrivals were Shin Yamada, who had scored two goals in 21 J-League appearances and has yet to net for Celtic, and Kelechi Iheanacho, who was lacking fitness and is currently sidelined by his second hamstring injury in quick succession.