Celtic close to appointing Nancy as new manager

Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy is close to being appointed Celtic manager.

Talks between the Scottish champions and the Major League Soccer club's French head coach have reached an advanced stage.

Celtic have been searching for a new manager since Brendan Rodgers resigned last month, with their former manager, Martin O'Neill, assisted by Shaun Maloney, having overseen the past five games.

O'Neill has won all four of his domestic fixtures since returning to the club, but his side were defeated by Midtjylland in the Europa League.

Heart of Midlothian lead the defending champions by four points at the top of the Scottish Premiership, although 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 in the league on Saturday.

If Nancy is appointed as expected, he will begin work at Celtic 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 Montreal and led them to the Canadian Championship later that year.

A move to Crew followed in 2022 and Nancy led the Ohio side to 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.