Goodbye, Wilfried Nancy. The head coach of CF Montreal has finally jumped ship to get along with the Columbus Crew.
All our information pointed in this direction for a few days. the Columbus Dispatch confirmed the matter on Monday, citing a league source. The Columbus Crew posted a short video on their social media, announcing “new beginnings”, and it features the recognizable silhouette of Wilfried Nancy.
A press conference with Crew headquarters has already been announced for 10 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Thus, Nancy’s months of deafening silence about her future with the team were therefore prescient to her eventual departure. At the heart of the problem, an issue that goes beyond the simple disagreement between owner Joey Saputo and the trainer.
It is that during the year, the bond of trust between the CFM and Nancy was broken.
Under the wing of Ron Waxman, the coach began to be more ambitious, and not just athletically. Financially, too. Even before the altercation with the owner at Stade Saputo on July 9, there was friction between the club and the Nancy clan.
Waxman even went so far as to talk about Nancy to other teams while the coach was still under contract with Montreal – his option for 2023 was activated in the last few months. This is tantamount to raiding, a serious charge in MLS. The league would have even stuck its nose in history at some point. A suspension for Wilfried Nancy was not outside the spectrum of possibilities.
The events of July 9 with Saputo played into the balance, yes. At this time, Wilfried Nancy wanted to leave immediately. But Gabriel Gervais and Olivier Renard summoned the team leaders and the latter managed to convince Nancy to end the season.
But even if the coach had turned around and wanted to return to the job long-term, the club would have said no to him, we are told. Bridges have been broken. That’s why, in the end, Montreal gave Columbus the right to talk to Wilfried Nancy.
Recall that on October 25, the day of the CFM’s balance sheet, a rumor relayed by the informant Tom Bogert surfaced. The MLS-affiliated reporter indicated that Columbus was interested in Nancy’s services.
“I hope it’s wrong,” said Olivier Renard a few hours later. Because there will be big problems. Our coach is under contract. No club in the world can contact our coach, let alone another MLS club. »
According to our sources, the league wanted to wait for the time to pass after the end of the season before the announcement of Nancy’s departure to the Crew was made official, to avoid it seeming too premeditated.
The Saputo-Nancy altercation
The story has been told many times. On July 9, after a loss to Sporting Kansas City, the league’s worst team, Joey Saputo stormed out of the backstage at Saputo Stadium, accosted its president Gabriel Gervais in front of the press room, and loudly let him know his state of affairs. soul about his head coach. “Your coach has no respect for me!” », says Saputo to Gervais, in front of your representative of The Press.
Obviously, a scene occurred between the two men somewhere between leaving the field and this precise moment, which takes place only a few minutes after the final whistle.
A week after the altercation with Saputo, at a press conference for the next game, the coach, still in office, comments on it.
“I’ve been at the club for a long time,” he said. I saw lots of things. Each leader manages his company as he wishes. I have no problem with that. On the other hand, I have values that I will never deviate from. »
Why quit?
At that point, the club started winning again and getting results at a breakneck pace. Galvanized, it rose to 2e rank of the East, 2 points from the first position. The season was beautiful, the most beautiful in its history. And the transfer of Djordje Mihailovic, who has repeatedly praised the human and sporting qualities of his coach, is another feat of arms demonstrating the special contribution that Nancy has made to the organization.
Organization that wants to continue to develop young players so that they take the same trajectory as Mihailovic towards Europe. Than Ismaël Koné, who has just been transferred to the English second division. Or even Alistair Johnston, who joined Celtic from Glasgow two days ago.
Nancy even came a hair’s breadth away from being named the best head coach in MLS.
Was money really Nancy’s only motivator? The Montreal Impact has not known only glorious moments in terms of personnel management in its history. The example of the dismissal of Mauro Biello and his entire team – including Nancy’s good friend, Jason Di Tullio – in 2017 comes first.
After more than a decade with the Impact, the July 9 event was perhaps the straw that broke Nancy’s camel’s back. The latter at least used it to assert his point of view fiercely.
From that moment, and even though he finished the season in Montreal, Nancy did not want to discuss his contract. Neither publicly nor in negotiations. Olivier Renard confirmed in the balance sheet that his option had been initiated for the year 2023. This remains a good thing for the club, which negotiated compensation with the Crew. We do not yet know the content. It was one of the last things left to negotiate before making the announcement.
Moreover, on the side of CF Montreal, it is assured that the owner Joey Saputo never intervened so that Nancy was fired or that her contract was not renewed.