Wilfried Nancy admitted Celtic fans were entitled to vent their fury at him after he lost his fourth consecutive game since becoming manager – but insisted he is still the right man for the job.
The Frenchman was on the receiving end of angry chants as he walked to the tunnel after a 2-1 defeat to Dundee United at Tannadice.
Daizen Maeda had opened the scoring for Celtic, only for United to turn the game around in three second-half minutes with goals from Krisztian Keresztes and Zac Sapsford.
It ended another turbulent day for the Scottish champions which saw Peter Lawwell announce his resignation as chairman, before chief executive Michael Nicholson gave Nancy a vote of confidence before kick-off.
Appointed just two weeks ago, Nancy lost his first game at home to league leaders Hearts. Celtic were then swatted aside 3-0 by Roma in the Europa League and beaten 3-1 at Hampden by St Mirren in the League Cup final.
It is the first time since 1978 Celtic have lost four consecutive games. Not since 1947 have they lost five on the spin, a fate Nancy must try to avoid at home to Aberdeen on Sunday.
Wilfried Nancy looks for inspiration as Celtic fall to their fourth defeat in a row
The Celtic manager is left with his head in his hands after another tough day for the club
Nancy tries to get his message across to Callum McGregor during 2-1 defeat at Tannadice
‘I heard it and obviously it’s not nice to hear that.’ he said when asked about the fans’ reaction.
‘But I can understand their frustration, too. It’s new for me, too, to lose four games in a row. It’s something new for the players and something we don’t want.
‘I don’t think (the job is too big for me). We don’t have a lot of time to work. You are going to think I am silly, but I see a lot of improvement.
‘I can see improvement every day. In terms of results, I can understand why the fans are upset.
‘We had a lot of chances in the first half, we had clear tap-ins and couldn’t score. If you don’t, then the game isn’t over.
‘I’m disappointed for the players because I felt we played a really good game. We improve, improve, improve – and then suddenly, boom, we concede two goals. We deserved to win but didn’t.’
In a club TV interview released to address Lawwell’s departure, Nicholson was asked about the board’s faith in Nancy.
‘Absolutely solid,’ he replied, before indicating that the Frenchman would be given two transfer windows to put things right. ‘As I said, it’s not even two weeks ago when we spoke about Wilfried and his appointment. There’s never any time to start at Celtic and it has been challenging. We’ve had some disappointing results, not least on Sunday.
Daizen Maeda had a great chance to make it 2-2 but headed the ball against the post instead
Agony for Celtic as Krisztian Keresztes celebrates after scoring first goal for Dundee United
Zac Sapsford was the United hero after scoring second goal to make it 2-1 on the night
‘And, in that respect, I understand that Celtic supporters are concerned about where we are. I understand and I respect the right of every supporter to express their discontent and to share that with us. But we know where we want to go. And step by step, all of our job is to support Wilfried, his team and the squad to take us where we want to get to. The starting point is now we’ve been working and met with Wilfried this week to discuss recruitment ahead of the January transfer window and also looking ahead to the summer transfer window because we know that we’ve got a project to support here.
‘We’re excited about where we’re going to get to. That’s going to take time both, as I say, day to day within the training environment, but also month to month, window to window. And then we know that when we get to that stage in the summer, hopefully having had success this season, we’ll be looking ahead to next season with great optimism with Wilfried.’
United boss Jim Goodwin empathised with Nancy’s predicament but was more focused on having turned around his own fortunes after ending a run of seven league games without a win.
‘I sympathise with every manager who is going through a difficult time,’ said Goodwin. ‘But don’t forget he wasn’t the only one coming into tonight under a bit of pressure.
‘We’ve been on a poor run, not always with poor performances, but I was delighted with my players tonight. For the first 30 minutes of the second half especially, I felt we controlled the game and then showed resilience to see it through.’
