Wilfried Nancy: Celtic close to appointing Columbus Crew head coach as new manager

Wilfried Nancy is close to being appointed Celtic manager, BBC Scotland has learned.

Talks between the club and the French head coach of Major League Soccer outfit Columbus Crew have reached an advanced stage.

Celtic have been searching for a new boss since Brendan Rodgers resigned last month. The club’s former manager Martin O’Neill, assisted by Shaun Maloney, has overseen the past five games.

O’Neill has won all four of his domestic fixtures since returning to the club, sustaining a loss to Midtjylland in the Europa League.

Hearts lead the defending champions by four points at the top of the Scottish Premiership but Celtic have a game in hand.

Celtic visit Feyenoord in their fifth Europa League match on Thursday, having picked up four points so far, and will defend the Premier Sports Cup in next month’s final against St Mirren, who lost 1-0 at home to O’Neill’s side on Saturday.

Nancy’s possible appointment comes amid tensions between the club and supporters.

Last week, Celtic’s annual meeting was abandoned when shareholders jeered comments by Ross Desmond, son of major shareholder Dermot, and following chants of «sack the board» by some shareholders.

And, after Saturday’s win in Paisley, O’Neill said Celtic need «some sort of unification», after fans called for changes in the way the club is run during their win over St Mirren.

After playing spells in his homeland, including with Toulon, Nancy moved into coaching in Canada.

Following Thierry Henry’s resignation as head coach in 2021, Nancy took over at CF Montreal and led them to the Canadian Championship later that year.

A move to Crew followed in 2022 and Nancy led the Ohio side the MLS Cup in 2023 and the Leagues Cup, a competition between Mexican and United States sides, last year, when he was also named MLS coach of the year.

However, this year they finished seventh in Eastern Conference and 12th overall.

In all, he has overseen 215 games in North America and a move to Celtic would be his first managerial role in Europe.