Ronny Deila
Where to go from here?
Ronny Deila has had a bad week. From Celtic’s exit from the gravy train that is the UEFA Champions league to his players coming out disagreeing with his post-match interview. John Kennedy one of Deila’s generals also came out in the press with the excuse of the language barrier being the reason for the confusion. It hasn’t been plain sailing to say the least but Ronny will be glad to concentrate on footballing matters for a couple of hours against St. Johnstone today. This is when Deila will get a real sense of how big this club is and how important it is for the staff, players, local people and the fans.
Neil Lennon, the man he replaced last summer was asked questions about Deila being let go for his failure in Sweden. In my opinion that is a very extreme solution and one Neil agrees with thankfully. Celtic were 90 minutes from the Champions league group stages and the players definitely didn’t do themselves justice on a very miserable night in Malmo. This is a young squad that Deila is making better and the football they have been playing is mesmerising. When this team plays they are a match for anyone, but Ronny says fear is holding them back from producing a performance that is worthy of this club, I call it inexperience. The team is young with the exception of Craig Gordon, Kris Commons and Mikael Lustig; the rest of the squad is under 30 and has massive re-sale value as Celtic and Sunderland or Southampton will find out before the transfer window closes on Tuesday the 1st of September with the transfer of Virgil Van Dijk.
Deila is the man for the job and the board thinks so too as they seem to be the ones cracking the whip and deciding on transfer targets as Celtic have sold Wanyama and Forster for big money. Yet that money hasn’t been reintroduced to the team as the two sales brought in £22 million, however the last 18 months have only seen 2/3 million reinvested on Ciftci, Johansen, Mackay-Steven, Armstrong, Boyata and Janko. That’s not good enough for a club looking to challenge in Europe when comparing with other major teams who lose two of their best players. The best sides buy smartly and reinvest transfer revenue on good players to replace them. Seemingly, these players aforementioned are for resale when the price is right because Celtic want the riches of the premier league clubs rather champions league glory. These players are all first team players and will keep the club at the top of the league but Celtic know there is already a glass ceiling in Europe for teams like them so instead of pushing the ceiling to breaking point they are reinforcing it.
Chris Sutton said on Tuesday night, “this is a champions league club in stature but a Europa league team on budget” and I can’t agree more. We don’t have the Nakamura’s, Larsson’s, Hartson’s, or Sutton’s of yester-year and we need them it seems more than ever. Ronny Deila, like at any football club, is the face of the club and is someone to scrutinise and glorify when the time is right. He should stay and help build this club but sadly this club is now a youth team for the rich European power-houses as Celtic are gaining links with Manchester, with both clubs utilising the talent Celtic has to offer, whilst the latter is offered first right of refusal on players deemed surplus to requirements at the Manchester clubs. City have sold Boyata and loaned Denayer whereas United have sold Janko and very possible Blackett will be loaned to Celtic for the forth coming season.
Nevertheless, it seems that as the Joker needs Batman, Glasgow Celtic needs Glasgow Rangers. The only time Celtic will take the league seriously is when there is a serious threat to the their crown. Last season Aberdeen lost four out of four against Celtic and were 17 points adrift of the hoops, they are hardly a rival, let alone a challenge, and it appears that without Rangers, Celtic are happy to bob along at the top without testing themselves.
I guess that Celtic fans, for the moment at least, have to Deila with that.
