Wilfried Nancy 'might not coach again' on one condition after Celtic as MLS icon in 'emotional owners' message

An MLS icon says Wilfried Nancy has put his coaching career in jeopardy with his ill-fated tenure at Celtic.

Landon Donovan is recognised as one of the USA’s greatest ever players and featured heavily for their national team and MLS side La Galaxy, spending time in Europe with Bayer Leverkusen and Everton during David Moyes’ first tenure. He has watched events at Celtic over the last month, where Nancy was hired after impressive work in America most recently with Columbus Crew, but has been sacked after just eight games.

He switched to his three at the back system and Celtic lost six out of their mayches with him at the helm. Donovan, speaking on his podcast with former Manchester United and Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard, reckons Nancy has blown his chances of coaching outside of the MLS in Europe. While he’s sent a cryptic dagger the way of the Celtic board, the ex-forward reckons Nancy was taking a huge risking in moving to Glasgow, and one more bad move in the MLS could see him fall away from coaching entirely.

Wilfried Nancy at Celtic assessed

He said: “Unfortunately in Europe, what happens most of the time is, it's not like Black Monday in the NFL. It's usually middle of the season. Things aren't going well. There's a relegation threat or not getting in a Champions League threat or not winning the title threat and emotional owners make rash decisions and they change things.

“If you're Wilfred Nancy and you're in Columbus and all of a sudden Celtic come knocking, the emotional response is ‘yes, of course, I want to do it.’ The problem is if you are not good at getting results now while trying to build, you're putting yourself at risk, big time at risk.

“There's a reason why these guys, Sam Allardyce and guys like this, are hired mid-season. They can get results today. They're not building out some elaborate style that's going to change the club for years to come. They're just getting results now. For Celtic, if you're Wilfried Nancy and you go there during the Christmas period and there's lots of games and you're struggling and you're battling, I just think it was a bad decision. He got bad advice or he made an emotional decision. I didn't like it at the time.

Where Wilfried Nancy go after Celtic?

“The problem with coaching, and we know by the way from speaking to Moyes behind the scenes, he's had many offers throughout his time when he wasn't coaching. He was very smart because he saw what happened at Manchester United. He saw what happened when he went to Spain and he's like, I have to make sure the next one is the right one, or I'm done. With Wilfred Nancy, he's not as accomplished as David Moyes.

“So this one is a massive scar on his resume. Wherever he ends up next, likely in MLS, if that doesn't go well, he might not coach again. I just think you have to really be smart. It's one thing if you are desperate for a job, okay? He was doing great. The grass was really green and he was watering it and everything was going great. He took a big risk, he did, and he paid for it.

“It wasn't calculated. Because if it's calculated, you go in when you have time to build and develop what you want to do. You're not a guy who has this experience where Moyes can go in and win tomorrow at any club in the world. He's not necessarily going to win every game, but he's going to keep them safe. That's really his chance in Europe, right? Gone. That was his chance and it's unfortunate because I'm sure he's much better than what he did there.”