Celtic's failed Nancy experiment

[BBC]

BBC Sport Scotland reporter Kheredine Idessane has been answering some of your questions on Celtic.

Kevin asked: Did the Wilfred Nancy experiment cost Celtic the title this season?

Kheredine answered: Yes it potentially did, Kevin.

Oh, you want me to expand on that?

Well, before some of your fellow supporters splutter over their tea let's get the obvious caveat out of the way. Celtic may yet win the league which would keep them champions despite the calamity of the club's shortest ever managerial reign.

Let's assume for the purposes of argument, however, that either Hearts or Rangers win the title. The question would then be: how much damage was done to Celtic's title defence by Nancy's decision to rip things up and start again straight away rather than to try to manage gradual culture change? The answer to that is plenty.

I remember the Frenchman's first match in charge. Hearts were wobbling at the time, having only won one of their previous six matches by the time they pitched up to Glasgow's east end for their second match with Celtic.

They had already dismantled Brendan Rodgers' side at Tynecastle at the end of October in what turned out to be the Northern Irishman's final match in charge.

Daizen Maeda missed an absolute sitter in the first few minutes of Nancy's home bow which set the trend for what was to follow. Some nice football, chances spurned and a complete inability to defend properly.

The league leaders won 2-1 to restore their mojo and dent the Nancy debut, and he never really recovered from that.

He was in charge for six league matches. He lost four of them, beating only Livingston and Aberdeen. The 12 dropped points, if you added them to Celtic's current tally, would have the Parkhead side on the brink of claiming five in a row.

The folly of the Nancy gamble was that interim boss Martin O'Neill had just put together a run of five straight Premiership wins following Rodgers' resignation.

The introduction of the former Columbus Crew head coach took a wrecking ball to that momentum, with his tenure also featuring a home humbling from Roma in the Europa League and a League Cup final defeat by St Mirren.

That Martin O'Neill still has Celtic in title contention is an achievement in itself. His only top flight defeats have come at the hands of Hibs and Dundee United. Realistically, he can't afford any more defeats if he is to pull off mission impossible.