O’Neill was afforded the same amount of games in charge as his successor, but that’s where the similarity ends.
Across his eight games, O’Neill won seven, the only blip a 3-1 away loss to Midtjylland in the Europa League.
His reign included beating Rangers in a League Cup semi-final while Feyenoord were humbled in Rotterdam.
O’Neill’s Celtic had cut Hearts’ advantage at the Scottish Premiership summit to three points by the time the leaders were due to visit Parkhead.
The opportunity was there for Nancy, in his debut match, to close that gap completely with a game to spare.
However, despite making a bright opening, Celtic – in the Frenchman’s 3-4-3 system – were stunned by Hearts in a 2-1 defeat.
Nancy’s decision to flip to his favoured formation was instantly criticised, but bizarrely not as much as his choice of footwear or use of a handheld tactics board.
The extreme fallout of the loss introduced the 48-year-old to the brutal nature of football in Glasgow. His eye-catching green and white trainers were never seen again.
“I was pleased with the mentality,” said Nancy. “The performance was really interesting. Defensively, we were really good but we missed the few opportunities.”
