Wilfried Nancy reacts to Celtic defeat to Rangers as fans launch angry protest | Football | Sport

Wilfried Nancy has asserted that he is not afraid of being dismissed from his role as Celtic manager. The beleaguered Hoops boss suffered a sixth loss in eight matches following a shocking second-half capitulation against Rangers. After squandering a first-half lead and crumbling after the interval in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat, Nancy finds himself teetering on the edge.

In the aftermath of the dismal performance, thousands of Celtic supporters staged protests outside Parkhead, demanding changes in the club’s board as well as the manager’s departure. Despite this, Nancy maintains that he is not contemplating his future and remains confident that he can steer the team out of their current predicament. When questioned about his fears of being sacked, the former Columbus Crew head coach responded: “I don’t think about it. I think about finding ways to help my team to be good on details. We are together with the board.”

Nancy did concede that he understands the fans’ frustration as Celtic’s season appears to be spiralling out of control. Rangers’ victory has drawn them level with the Celts in second place, but the Parkhead side are in a serious downturn.

Nancy stated: “Yes, it’s the results. Results. So this is the reality for the moment. But when I say this is the reality, it doesn’t mean that I am a defeatist guy. No. What I mean is we are really close, really, really close to turn things around. And again, I repeat myself, but I can understand this situation.

“In terms of results, yes. I cannot deny that they had the results. After that, they struggled also at certain moments, but they found a way to win. I cannot deny that. So now, I think it’s a small margin because again, the first game against Hearts, if we win the game, if we score the goals, I think that it could be different.

“So now this is the situation, and when we lose it could be difficult, but I know that my players are stronger and able to bounce back.”

Celtic supporters staged a mass demonstration outside at the final whistle and Nancy commented: “I can understand that. I think that they were behind us the first half, they pushed us in a good way. And after that, I can understand why they’re disappointed regarding the fact that we had many possibilities to win the game. I know that I repeat myself, but it happened in the past also regarding many games.”

He added: “And I think that they really enjoyed the first half. They saw a team, players that they were giving everything with the ball and without the ball. So they see the direction that we want to go but in a consistent way, you know, for 95 minutes. After that, the fact that I know the meaning of this game – I know that – and the disappointment for them.

“But what I can tell them is what we did during the first half and also at certain moments in the second half, this is what we want to do. But at the same time, we know that we can’t accept, we cannot accept to concede goals like this. We know that. And this is something that we’re going to work on.”