Keith Wyness: Celtic board told to ‘sell to new owners’
Martin O’Neill would not have lost four games in a row at Celtic if the board had kept the interim manager at the club.
That is according to ex-Aberdeen, Aston Villa, and Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes Celtic made an incompetent decision throwing Wilfried Nancy in at the deep end.
Nancy was appointed Celtic manager from MLS side Columbus Crew, and is already facing the sack at the Glasgow club.
O’Neill had won seven of his eight games in charge as interim boss, but Nancy has overseen four straight defeats, including a League Cup final loss to St Mirren.
Celtic board should ‘consider selling to new owners’
Aberdeen’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Pittodrie between 2000 and 2004, had lengthy spells as the chief of Everton and Aston Villa and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes the Celtic board have shown they are “out of touch.“
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast, Wyness remains adamant that O’Neill should have stayed in charge.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “Certainly, as I say Martin O’Neill would have made much more sense to have been there for those last three games and if things had gone wrong nobody would have pointed the finger at Martin because everybody loves him and he would have gone on, but actually I don’t think that he would have lost those games, I think Martin would probably have won them.
“Then the new manager would be coming in on a much more stable platform, so it’s a basic error but this is something I did point out months ago. And so it’s not just me, mean there’s a lot of people who have pointed to this fact that they could have waited.
“If you’re going to bring in a football purist like Wilfrid Nancy, then you’ve got to give him a platform and some time to get his ideas across. But I’m afraid bringing him into a cup final, in a game against the league leaders, that’s not smart thinking.
“This is an example of where the board are completely out of touch. And as I say, I think it’s time for the board itself to consider their position and consider selling to new owners.”
Nancy faces crucial Aberdeen clash
Following Celtic’s 2-1 defeat at Dundee United, the Hoops remain six points behind league leaders Hearts in the Scottish Premiership table.
Nancy’s future will be in further doubt at Celtic should they lose to Aberdeen, and suffer an unprecedented fifth straight defeat.
Celtic Park could turn toxic towards Nancy and the board should Aberdeen leave Glasgow with three points for the first time since 2018.