Former Celtic manager Ronny Deila has been speaking about his time in charge of the club, with his candid comments providing insight on his mindset at the time.
Deila won three trophies during his two seasons in charge of the club, including back-to-back Scottish Premiership titles. But it became clear the Bhoys were not progressing under his watch and the club ended up pursuing Brendan Rodgers in 2016.
The Norwegian still speaks fondly of his time at the club but reckons he simply wasn’t prepared for what the Celtic experience had to offer – especially the expectations of supporters.
He said [Scottish Sun]: “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.
“I built a team full of young players who were virtually unbeatable in the years that followed. At the time it was tough. The step was too big. It was like going from first grade to sixth grade. It will never be as hard as it was then.
“But because I have now acquired the necessary knowledge. I now even dare to say that I could manage any team… even Real Madrid. Because of Celtic I feel I am up for any challenge.”
Deila rebounded well from his Celtic exit. He ended up winning the Major League Soccer title with New York City before impressing enough at Standard Liege in Belgium to win the Club Brugge job.
Brugge are currently chasing the title and are hoping to make progress in the UEFA Europa Conference League too. Remaining popular with many Celtic fans, it’d be fantastic to see him succeed in another European league.
Celtic have had a massive impact on his career and, in turn, he’ll always be welcome as a visitor to the club – despite things not quite working out to their full potential during his time as manager.
In other news, Celtic boost as firm date set for Cameron Carter-Vickers comeback.
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