Former Rangers manager Mark Warburton has opened up on the poor media treatment of ex-Celtic manager Ronny Deila.
The pair only clashed once on the touchline. It was in that infamous 2-2 draw at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-finals of 2015/16. Rangers ultimately won the game on penalties, despite Leigh Griffiths rattling the crossbar in extra-time.
That loss marked the beginning of the end for Deila. Just three days later, Deila and Celtic announced that he would leave the club at the end of that campaign. Despite winning two Premiership titles, Deila’s time had come to an end.
Yet, speaking in an open interview with Si Ferry’s Open Goal show (37:50), Warburton stated the media scrutiny of Deila was out of order.
“I was dismayed at the way Ronny Deila was being treated. He was getting dogs abuse from the papers.
“I thought it was almost bordering on legal. That’s how I saw it. Some of the headlines about Deila, he was getting levels of abuse in the media which I just thought was way beyond appropriate.
“I felt for him, and I knew the turmoil would be going on in the camp. But they were still the best team in Scotland.”
Open and honest from Warburton
Fair play to Warburton here. He’s not allowing any form of blinkered glasses sway the way he believed Deila was treated up here.
The ex-Rangers manager didn’t go into what newspapers or articles in particular he felt were disrespectful, but Deila was certainly under plenty of pressure. Considering Warburton also states he felt certain newspaper columns were bordering on illegal, it’s not right of us to speculate which ones those could be.
Despite winning three domestic trophies and reaching Hampden in every cup competition he entered in, Deila was constantly under scrutiny regardless. Poor results in Europe to the likes of Malmo, Molde, and Maribor pretty much summed up how things regressed under Deila.
In the end, Deila’s inability to change results spelt the end for him at Parkhead. It wasn’t the media that made Celtic lose the Scottish Cup semi-final to Rangers. It also wasn’t the media that had us lose at home to the likes of Hamilton and Molde.
But was he given fair treatment compared to the way Warburton was represented? The former Rangers boss even goes on to state he was treated better than Deila in the same interview.
From that, you can make your own mind up.
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