RONNY READY FOR ANYTHING

Celtic manager stays cool ahead of a clash that defines his reign

STILL the coolest cat in school, strolling into the maelstrom with the confidence of a card shark in a room full of suckers, Ronny Deila makes one slightly surprising admission.

Nervous? You’d better believe it. When he wakes up feeling flat calm on a match day, that’s when he’ll start worrying.

Less than 48 hours from a game laden with the potential for just about anything, he arrived at Hampden gently mocking his suited-and-booted appearance for this special occasion, cracking one-liners about captain Scott Brown’s vanishing hair — and only half-joking, maybe, about training with 10 men … just in case.

Here long enough to grasp the non-negotiable nature of head-tohead Old Firm conflict, certainly from the view of a Celtic support expecting Premiership class to tell tomorrow, the Norwegian is aware that his season — perhaps his entire time in Glasgow — will be judged on this game.

‘I understand,’ said Deila, with a nod to the inevitable outcome in the event of failure. ‘I get asked every week what happens if we lose this. I’m not thinking about what-ifs.

‘In my mind we are going to win this game. That’s why we are preparing for everything. The players are very motivated. We want to win another trophy. We have to get through the semi-final.

‘I have to try to be relaxed. You don’t win anything if you lose control. You have to know what you are doing. It’s 11 versus 11 and it’s a big game — but you need to have control of all around you.

‘But nervous? If I wasn’t nervous, that would be a negative. If you don’t feel nerves that is the worst thing — because you don’t care.

‘I am nervous in every game I am involved in. I love winning and I hate losing. Like every manager, that’s why we are in the game.

‘It’s a positive nervousness. You have to attack the opportunity. If you go out defensive, something will always go wrong. You have to show what you are about — and get the best out of yourself.’

He doesn’t mess about, never ducks a question, rarely misses an opportunity to declare his intentions. If his team could approach every game with the same assurance, there wouldn’t be so much as a murmur of discontent among fans. There naturally remains a debate over the levels of disaffection towards Deila. But, should Celtic’s quality in key areas make the expected difference tomorrow, the fans will at least reprise the ovation afforded him in last year’s League Cup semi-final win over Rangers.

‘It was a big, big game for the Celtic fans,’ he recalled. ‘Not only for them, it was the same for us coaches and players. We are desperate to win this game.

‘It’s hard to say what I have learned from last year. Maybe that I know what’s coming. It’s good that 90 per cent of the players were involved last time as well. Every experience is important whether it’s a big game or it’s in Europe. There always has to be a first time, so this could be used to our advantage.’

Brown (below) is likely to be crucial for the odds-on favourites. Is there a feeling that, in recently shedding his wavy locks and returning to the shaven-headed look of old, he was merely preparing for battle?

‘I didn’t know it was possible to get so much hair; I didn’t think he had two opportunities,’ laughed Deila. ‘I like him when he is like he is now.

‘You can feel the whole atmosphere in Lennoxtown that something is coming up. But it’s been calm and we have been training well. We have players that have been here before which is very, very positive.

‘The police came up last year as well so we are going through the same things. It sums up the game. It’s nice for the players to hear what it is all about. They listen to the history of it all.

‘There are a lot of experts out there who say it is this and this but, when you have been there, you know what it is. You know how to be a manager at this level.

‘That’s why I took this opportunity. These games are why you really love to do it.

‘We have a clear match plan. We have trained well this week, we have almost every player available so everything is ready and I really believe in my team.’ Deila has already picked his starting XI and thinks he knows what to expect from Rangers, who have been telling anyone within earshot of their intention to change very little about their open and attacking style for this one-off cup tie. Ahead of a game that will be shown on ‘the biggest channel’ back in Norway, as Deila calls it, there isn’t much left for either side to do. Except prepare for the unexpected.

Asked about his on-air revelation that Celtic had been training with 10 men, having seen Efe Ambrose dismissed in the League Cup semi-final loss to Ross County and, before that, Craig Gordon in last season’s Scottish Cup semi defeat to Inverness, Deila replied with a smile: ‘Ah, I was just kidding.

‘I said we trained with 10 all week. But, you know, we have more experience of it now. We want to play with 11 players, so the small details are what we have to be really aware of.

‘Of course we have a plan for playing with 10. And we also have a plan for playing 11 v 10.

‘It’s going to be aggressive but at the same time you have to be disciplined. We’ve had some things happening in the two semi-finals but it hasn’t been because of ugly play. People know we want to be aggressive — but in a good way.’

Yesterday was the first time Deila and Mark Warburton had met, spending maybe half an hour exchanging pleasantries in between all of the stage-managed media events that precede a semi-final.

Having been through it all before, Deila looked chilled. Serene, even. Check back with him tomorrow morning, by which time his nerves will probably be jangling like loose change in a cement mixer. He wouldn’t have it any other way.