TRUSTED EUROPEAN SOURCE GIVES NEW WILFRIED NANCY CELTIC UPDATE
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Nov 18, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 19, 2025
There’s been a fair bit of tumult over the past 24 hours thanks to the latest in a long line of official Celtic statements that, though simple on the surface, appears to have more layers than the average pickled onion.
Can you tell I was feeling hungry when I wrote this?
Anyway, I digress.
Despite it being reported as a done deal over the weekend by several sources of varying degrees of reliability, Wilfried Nancy, Celtic’s alleged preferred candidate in their pursuit of a new permanent manager remains in America, for now.
Thankfully, we have an update courtesy of one of Europe’s most trusted sports news outlets, that appears to show the deal has not, after all, hit any last-minute snag.
Whether or not you consider that good news seems to be a 50/50 call at the moment among the wider Celtic support. Whilst the club appear sold on Nancy’s management abilities, many fans are not.
L’Equipe Says Wilfried Nancy Celtic Deal Still On
French publication L’Equipe has an excellent track record for reliable sports journalism going back many years. They report that Nancy is in “advanced negotiations” with Celtic and that he could still be announced as the new manager this week.
There’re a few different elements in play here. A couple of which we covered on today’s ACSOM Bulletin. But I’ll go into a bit more detail here.
I think it’s clear, with an extremely fiery AGM set for this Friday, that the Celtic Board need a PR win ahead of the shareholder summit.
Getting a new manager fully signed up an announced ahead of Friday’s meeting would represent something of a win, even if fan opinion remains quite evenly split on whether or not Nancy is the right man for the job.
If the L’Equipe report is accurate, then an announcement later this week could still happen.
However, even if it did, it’s highly unlikely the new manager would be ready to assume full charge of the team ahead of Saturday night’s trip to Paisley for what is sure to be a hard game against St. Mirren.
So, the impromptu announcement and subsequent Celtic TV interview with Martin O’Neill that appeared on club media channels last night is both a precautionary measure and an acknowledgement, at least, by the board that the ongoing uncertainty around the next Celtic manager needed addressed.
At least it wasn't paywalled, I guess.
As usual, they haven’t really done that, other than say “probably” Martin O’Neill will still be in the dugout on Saturday.
Hopefully, by then, Wilfried Nancy, Celtic’s new boss, will be in the stands to see what he’s gotten himself into. If not, then this whole managerial recruitment merry-go-round begins anew next week.
