CELTIC hero Charlie Mulgrew insists Wilfried Nancy should NOT be trusted to spend big money in this transfer window.
The new Hoops manager has suffered six defeats in eight games since his arrival a month ago.
It’s a disastrous sequence in which the champions have dropped TWELVE league points to trail Hearts by six, an embarrassing 3-1 loss to St Mirren in the Premier Sports League Cup Final and a humiliating home Europa League loss to AS Roma after conceding three first-half goals.
The horrendous run has left serious doubts about how long the Frenchman can survive in the job with the Celtic fans already letting their feelings known in no uncertain fashion.
Nancy brought in Mexico international right-sided defender Julian Araujo on a short-term loan from Bournemouth last week and he made his debut as a second-half substitute in the dismal 3-1 flop in the derby at Parkhead at the weekend.
It’s clear the Hoops squad needs strengthening, particularly in the striker department where Johnny Kenny and then Shin Yamada shared attack-leading duties against Danny Rohl’s Govan side without any success.
The Republic of Ireland international has yet to score since Nancy took over and failed to get off the substitutes’ bench in the last three of interim gaffer Martin’s O’Neill’s eight games in charge.
Kenny has claimed four goals all season while the Japanese frontman, a summer recruit by Brendan Rodgers, has yet to register a solitary strike.
Asked if the board should give the green light to new signings, Mulgrew answered: “I think that’s why they went for a permanent manager, because of the transfer window.
“Now the board are in a position where they’ll be talking about whether or not Nancy is the man to spend money.
“The last window was nowhere near good enough. There needs to be money spent and you need someone in charge who can have the final say and is trusted.
GAME FOR A LAUGH…Charlie Mulgrew, working as a media pundit for Premier Sports, enjoys a joke before Celtic’s 2-0 loss to Motherwell at Fir Park.
“Then you look at the fact he will need to recruit players for his formation. Celtic don’t really have the wing-backs that Nancy wants and he wants full-backs playing as outside centre-backs.
“I don’t think he’s the man to be trusted with that money.”
The players seem unsure of what they are being asked to do in Nancy’s new-look formation and the former Celtic and Scotland international defender, speaking to talkSPORT, continued: “The big issue for me is that he plays wingers as wing-backs and that’s okay when you’ve got loads of possession and keeping teams in their half, but it’s not happening often enough.
“Especially in the game against Rangers, those wingers were playing as full-backs.
“If you look at their positioning and them trying to defend, it’s just alien to them.
“If they’re playing a back three and the wingers are playing as wingers then it’s fine, but they aren’t.
“It’s been a big issue but that hasn’t been the main thing for me.”
Mulgrew added: “When Martin O’Neill came in, I don’t think it would have mattered which formation they played.
“I think the way he manages people, the players responded to that because he’s authentic and has energy. You can trust the way he talks.
“I don’t get that with Nancy and there’s clear disconnect between the players and the manager.
“You can see the players are confused.”