The Full Scottish
Served by Brian P. Dunleavy
As of this writing, Martin O’Neill remains the manager at Celtic. However, that could change during this international break, with Wilfried Nancy, currently the bench boss at MLS side Columbus Crew, reportedly the frontrunner for the post.
To those who don’t follow MLS, Nancy may, on paper, lack the “brand-name” persona and big personality needed to man the Celtic hotseat. Still, his teams play an exciting brand of football. If he’s ultimately the choice, it will be interesting to see how his tenure in Glasgow plays out.
In the meantime, O’Neill is reportedly scheduled to meet this week with Celtic majority shareholder Dermot Desmond to discuss his immediate future, talks that may include an offer to remain in charge of the first team until the end of the 2025-26 season.
That timeline—and O’Neill’s steady hand—may calm the nerves of the Celtic support, but it may remove Nancy from the equation entirely, given that MLS starts its season in late February or early March.
On the flipside, it would give the next manager the summer transfer window to rebuild the squad in his image. Or would it?
There has been some suggestion that Celtic conducts its transfer business essentially the same way, irrespective of who is sitting in the manager’s chair. However, that policy may be in flux given the recent departure of the club’s Head of Scouting Operations, Jay Lefevre, to English Championship side Swansea. He joins former Celtic player and youth coach Darren O’Dea in Wales.
All of which has supporters wondering whether Celtic can—or will—do what is necessary for the first team to challenge Hearts (that’s right—not a typo) for the league title this term.
Stay tuned.
