Advice? Learn quickly, believe in yourself, adapt to the culture you’ve come to

As Warburton bristles, Deila reveals how he copes in the Old Firm hotseat

THE two men may never have met but if there’s one person who understands the frustration that erupted in Rangers manager Mark Warburton over the past week it’s Ronny Deila. Although Warburton’s introduction to football in Glasgow has been smooth, he has shown sensitivity both in the reaction to his team’s first defeat — against St Johnstone in the League Cup in September — and, most topically, the persistent speculation that Fulham were intent on making him their new manager.

Having stopped short of a full denial in Press conferences, he took to social media to kill the story in midweek, using words like ‘appalling’ and ‘shockingly i ncorrect’ to describe the reporting of a story that hardly reflected badly on his managerial capabilities.

As Celtic manager for the past 18 months, Deila knows what it’s like to be the centre of attention — and he can reasonably claim to have had it far worse than his counterpart on account of speculation that his team’s European deficiencies could result in him being sacked.

Driven and laidback, Deila has, barring the odd i ntemperate response, managed to keep himself on an even keel.

He believes former Brentford boss Warburton can do the same by remaining true to his ideals and refusing to rake over every word that is written or broadcast about him.

‘Advice? Learn quickly, that’s the most important thing,’ declared the Norwegian.

‘You have to use a lot of time for reflection. Know yourself, what you stand for, who you want to be, what you want to achieve.

‘Then you have to go for it and believe in yourself. That’s the most important thing. You have to adapt as well to the culture you come to and the environment around you.

‘What I have been through will make it easier to go to another club that has the same intensity around it.’

Deila admits he experienced something of a culture shock when he moved from Norwegian club Stromsgodset to succeed Neil Lennon in the summer of 2014.

‘I had been at Stromsgodset for seven or eight years and felt I had gone on auto-pilot,’ he said. ‘I could have had a fantastic life out there but I was bored.

‘Maybe I could have achieved more but I had an opportunity to leave the safe things and go into the uncertain.

‘But I wasn’t used to it. It was a new country, different people and another language. I didn’t know anybody, so it was a situation I hadn’t been in before.

‘One of the first days after I arrived here, I had to attend a charity event in Glasgow and there were thousands of people there.

‘I hadn’t been in the city centre before. When I got out of the taxi, the media came at me right away. I was dragged into a corner and I had to speak in English. There were a lot of cameras as well.

‘I was thinking: “Oh my God, this is crazy”. Another time, I did something with Glasgow’s Lord Provost and I realised that people were more interested in me than her. That was the first time it really hit me, how big and how intense it is here. It was like an out-of-body experience. I knew I was strong enough to handle it but now I need to make more progress at Celtic to make everybody happy.’

Thursday marks the end of Deila’s second campaign in Europe after failure to qualify for the Champions League was followed by a poor Europa League campaign that has resulted in elimination before the final Group A fixture against Fenerbahce in Turkey.

Deila’s likeable persona and fondness for interacting with the crowd made him an extremely popular figure during his first season but, with Celtic’s stumbling performances in Europe, he has reined in the theatrics this term.

Although there is discord among some Celtic fans over his suitability for the job, the Norwegian insists he has never encountered animosity in his adopted city.

‘There hasn’t been one time since I arrived that anyone has said something cruel to me in the street,’ he added.

‘The people I’ve spoken to have been very open and positive. They have been caring people.

‘That has been a very good thing for me to experience. I knew about the media before but I have done the same here as I did in Norway.

‘I want to be respected, of course, but I understand the media have a job to do.

‘I have to live with it and be as honest as possible. If you go around seeking other people’s opinions, you go crazy.’

It is a truism that an Old Firm manager is never far from a crisis.

In the event that Warburton finds himself in the grips of a real trauma at Rangers, he could do worse than follow Deila’s lead.