Several recent Celtic managers have helped the Bhoys maintain dominance over Scottish football, and Ronny Deila has played his part in that journey.
The Norwegian was in charge of Celtic between 2014 and 2016, claiming two Scottish Premiership titles and a Scottish League Cup before departing the club.
Brendan Rodgers was his successor and went on to achieve the famous Invincible Treble with Celtic, with many of those foundations laid by Ronny Deila.
Since moving on, the 49-year-old has gone on to manage Valerenga, New York City, Standard Liege, Club Brugge and Al Wahda, with his most notable moment coming Stateside, where he won the Eastern Conference and MLS Cup in 2021.
Now, the former Celtic boss has taken his latest step into the dugout and has returned to familiar surroundings.
Ronny Deila appointed as Atlanta United’s new boss
Returning to Major League Soccer, Deila has been appointed as Atlanta United’s new manager ahead of the forthcoming campaign.
Taking to social media platform X, the one-time MLS champions released a video confirming the news as they look to recover from a disappointing season last term, where they finished in ninth place.
Speaking after being appointed, he stated [Major League Soccer]: “I want to thank Arthur M. Blank and Garth Lagerwey for this opportunity and couldn’t be more excited to join Atlanta United.
“This is a club with great ownership, excellent facilities and the ambition to succeed and continue to drive the league forward.
“I’m happy to return to MLS, a competitive league that I enjoy, and I’m eager to arrive and get to work with our group of players.”
What Ronny Deila said about his time at Celtic
Despite the ups and downs of his two years in charge, Ronny Deila has always had kind words to say about Celtic and has previously spoken out on how he would do it all again amid the pressure to succeed.
He stated: “Few people can imagine how enormous the pressure is at Celtic. It is one of the largest clubs in the world. And I came from Strømsgodset, a small club at European level, comparable to, say, Eupen here in Belgium, where there are only 7 to 8,000 supporters in the stands.
“At Celtic there were suddenly 60,000 and the club has a total of 10 million fans worldwide. The city of Glasgow is crazy about football. You have to win there. I wasn’t ready for it. I simply couldn’t prepare for something like that.
“Mentally it was challenging, to the extent that the fun was gone at the end. I was up. Then you have no chance. But I would absolutely do it again. I am very proud of my progress there.”
Deila remains a popular figure among supporters and everyone connected with Celtic will wish him luck on his new venture, with Atalanta having aspirations to get themselves back on the canvas this season.
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