Soccer
Wilfried Nancy has made an impassioned plea for patience ahead of his first taste of the Old Firm derby, saying Celtic’s supporters will be rewarded if they stand by him.
Celtic host old rivals Rangers at Celtic Park on Saturday, with neither team leading the way in the Scottish Premiership table amid crisis-ridden campaigns for both.
Hearts are top of the tree with 41 points from 19 games, three ahead of Celtic and six clear of Rangers, with both of the Glasgow giants having already changed managers this season.
With Nancy overseeing his first Old Firm derby and Danny Rohl’s only previous taste of the rivalry being a League Cup semi-final defeat to Martin O’Neill’s Bhoys in November, it will be the fifth instance of both teams having a new manager in charge for their first league derby at the same time.
That previously occurred in September 1978 (Billy McNeil, John Greig), August 1991 (Liam Brady, Walter Smith), September 1998 (Jozef Venglos, Dick Advocaat) and September 2016 (Brendan Rodgers, Mark Warburton).
Nancy has lost five of his first seven matches at the helm, including Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat at Motherwell, prompting fierce criticism from the club’s supporters.
But at Friday’s pre-match press conference, the former Columbus Crew boss outlined his belief that everyone at Celtic Park is united behind him, saying: “The board is with me, the club is with me, and the players are with me.
“As you know, I need time. Give me time and you’ll see what I do. You can already see what I did before, because I didn’t start coaching yesterday.
“I’d be a liar if I said, ‘everything is happy, everything is good’. No, that’s not the case, but I knew that before.
“That’s why I’m calm with all the questions you ask me. I’m not pleased to hear people don’t like me, but they have the right to say it because, in terms of results, this is not what we want.”
Bhoys putting in the graft as #CELRAN approaches #CelticFC pic.twitter.com/sxnMAKtt05
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) January 2, 2026
Celtic are winless on the last three occasions that their first league game of a calendar year has been against Rangers (one draw, two losses), although those matches were all away.
Nancy said: “Tomorrow is a big game. But the context is that I’ve only had 13 training sessions with my team. Usually, we would have four weeks of pre-season.
“It’s totally normal that you guys kill me. I’m fine with that because I know where I want to go. Judge me in a few weeks or months.
“If you want to judge me now, you can do it. I didn’t have the results we wanted – that’s a fact, I cannot deny that.
“I want to win every game, I want to win titles. I want to create a legacy here. I am going to die for this club, for sure.”
Rangers boss Rohl, meanwhile, believes the nervousness that is likely to be present at Celtic Park could be an important factor in the match.
“There are a lot of games ahead. We’re on a long journey and we know what we need to do.”
Our January Fixtures in 2026. pic.twitter.com/qYptT5VpxD
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) January 1, 2026
“We need a big, big performance,” Rohl said. “It’s just three points – but this game is never about just three points. There is an emotional side.
“If we are right there, we are on the front foot and we can win some good balls and hurt them, then they will be more nervous.
“But if they create some good moments in the beginning, then I think the crowd will be behind them.”
Read MoreSoccerNews