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Wilfried Nancy has made an appearance at Celtic, promising “exciting, attacking, winning football” to come. But priorities must first be established.

After overcoming Heart of Midlothian’s eight-point deficit, Martin O’Neill will leave, allowing the Frenchman to begin his Celtic Park reign by defeating the faltering early leaders on Sunday to claim the top spot in the Scottish Premiership.

The 48-year-old has a testing start with Roma visiting in the Europa League in midweek and St Mirren hosting the Premier Sports Cup final on Saturday. Wins are the only real currency that matters in Glasgow.

Time is perhaps the one thing a new Celtic manager needs but is in short supply, according to their nemesis. Nancy will need to navigate the first large block of fixtures with little trouble, so he’ll need to learn how to navigate it.

The schedule is difficult, with Rangers’ first game on January 3rd being the first of his derby against Rangers scheduled every three or four days.

A game at Hampden with silverware up for grabs and a Hearts visit that will decide the league leader will be played in the foyer also serves as an old-fashioned game.

Before the end of the year, negotiations must be made regarding a challenging assignment for Roma with the goal of winning the Europa League.

What is clear about his time at Montreal and the Columbus Crew is that some of the current Celtic squad members may experience a bit of a culture shock as a result of playing “Nastyball.”

The new boss will have little time to practice on the field despite the frantic schedule of games and favors a 3-4-3 formation with a very high defensive line in front of a ball-playing goalkeeper.

He has fewer opportunities to impart any fresh ideas because of the number of matches and recovery time.

Everyone is aware that recruitment in 2025 was largely unsuccessful, including the Celtic board.

In the face of the new challenge from Hearts and the traditional one from Glasgow’s south side, the club must advance further in Europe and maintain their top-dog status at home.

Therefore, Nancy will need to come up with a plan for who he wants to bring in and who he can’t afford to lose.

The board’s admission that Celtic could and should have spent more money in the previous two windows is what makes him happy, as well as the relative strength of Celtic’s bank balance.

He has never succeeded in Europe, much less the Glasgow Goldfish Bowl. Therefore, Nancy will need assistance if he wants to succeed. From the Celtic community, his players, and his board of directors.

This situation might be similar to that of Ange Postecoglou’s first few months of rule. Although much more successful and experienced than Nancy, who took his first-ever management position in senior football the same year, he also was a relatively unheralded arrival back in the summer of 2021.

The Australian’s style of play was immediately appealing to a sizable portion of Celtic fans, who then latched on to lose half of his first six Premiership matches.

By the end of February, he had a chance to completely overhaul the league leaders, but he never looked back.

Nancy’s issue is that he is starting out in the middle of the season and has a weaker squad.

He will rely heavily on Calum McGregor, his captain. The man who has spent more than ten years running a successful dressing room.

McGregor had a significant impact on Rodgers and Postecoglou. Unconcerned, Nancy will continue until the Frenchman can gain a foothold in the Scottish game, at least for the time being.

Before selling the right-back to Celtic, he developed Alastair Johnston in Montreal. Is the Canadian a future Celtics’ captain under the guidance of his former boss? one that is for the future.

Two words, as appropriate, should help Nancy understand the value of managing upwards: Brendan Rodgers.

The talismanic Northern Irishman, who was adorned with green and white ribbons, had everything working out for him. until it wasn’t, which allowed the club’s largest shareholder to sour.

Nancy will have some crystal-clear ideas for how he wants to work. He will be able to identify someone who will assist him in that endeavor in the same way.

His long-time friend Kwame Ampedu appears to be traveling with him. He and Paul Tisdale were both at Exeter City when he and Celtic’s head of football operations met.

Nancy will also understand the value of thorough local knowledge. Additionally, it wouldn’t be out of stock.

Shaun Maloney, Stephen McManus, and Mark Fotheringham are currently serving as O’Neill’s interim staff. Could the new management team ask one of those coaches? It is still ambiguous.

Nancy will value a thorough understanding of the current squad’s problems and potential. He will have his own ideas for how to maximize their potential.

Mark Wood, an England bowler, has doubted his ability to play in the third Ashes Test due to a knee injury.

Wood, 35, returned from knee surgery for the first Test in Perth after nine months, but his left knee was ruled out of the second Test in Brisbane due to concerns.

Between the start of the third Test in Adelaide and the scheduled end of the second Test, there is a week.

Wood told Channel 7: “I believe there is a chance there for Adelaide.”

“More realistically, it’s probably more Melbourne and then [Sydney] after that.

Wood has struggled with injuries throughout his career despite being one of the fastest bowlers to score for England.

Prior to his 15-month suspension in Perth, he had an elbow issue, left knee surgery, and then not played a test.

Wood managed eight overs in his first Test match against the England Lions before suffering tightness in his left hamstring when he made his on-field comeback before the first Test.

He was cleared of any hamstring issues and given a pass for fitness to play in Perth, where he had match scores of 0-44.

Wood’s availability enabled England to carry out a long-awaited strategy to start beating Australia at the Ashes.

England’s opening day of Test cricket was their fastest overall bowling day thanks to a five-man pace attack at Perth Stadium.

Top British athletes are receiving new artificial intelligence-based protection from online abuse.

A contract worth more than £300,000 has been signed by UK Sport, the organization that finances the Olympic and Paralympic sports, giving thousands of athletes access to an app that tracks and hides abusive posts made by other users on social media.

The entire Games cycle, up to Los Angeles 2028, athletes can sign up for free accounts and keep their accounts safe.

The app, called Social Security, uses AI to try to prevent athletes from receiving as few abusive messages as possible.

It searches for over two million abusive words and phrases in its database, which automatically searches for incoming social media posts on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.

Athletes can also add any words or phrases of their own that they find upsetting in their own comments or replies, which will automatically hide the terms from the comments section or replies.

Shane Britten, the founder of the business, makes the app akin to background anti-virus software that is invisible.

“The goal is to keep the comment section free of racism, hatred, scams, and other abhorrent things that can happen on social media,” he said.

However, the software is imperfect. In the contract that UK Sport has paid for, social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is excluded from the agreement. According to a BBC Sport investigation, 82% of abuse is directed at football managers and players.

The agreement also stipulates that the system can only monitor posts made informally; however, abusive direct messages to athletes will still be visible.

Since the development of social media in the middle of the 2000s, athletes have been subject to abuse in all sports.

Kirsty Gilmour, a three-time Olympiade, has endured rape and death threats throughout her career, frequently from those who bet on her matches.

Gilmour, who has frequently feared for her safety and even worked with the FBI on a previous investigation into abusive social media posts against her, is comforted by the offer of new protection.

Around my tiny piece of the internet, the 32-year-old said, “It feels empowering and like a real force field.”

They say things like “I know where you live” or “I know where you’ll be.” And that’s a little frightful if I’m in Asia or someplace that’s a little foreign to me. You are made known.

The more difficult ones are the ones that pursue my career: “you’re terrible at your job,” “you should quit,” and “you should retire,” but the rape and death threats are not good.

They may not be swearing, but they hurt, they say. I can hide words that might seem harmless from sight and that I want to avoid using the app.

According to UK Sport, the prevalence of social media abuse in contemporary sport has prompted them to provide their athletes with more support both during and after the Games.

The conclusion of this deal by UK Sport is an example of how sports organizations are acting independently in response to what it perceives as social media company apathy.

The app’s shielding service will also be accessible to UK Sport’s coaches, employees, and family members, as well as to its sponsors’ significant domestic competitions.

This agreement “is at the heart of our commitment to ensure athletes receive the support they need to be their best self both on and off the field of play,” Baker continued.