The prize isn’t rest for a title success...
IT is the lot of a Celtic manager, in the Year of Our Lord 2015, to be allowed only a fleeting moment of celebration upon the completion of an achievement months in the making. Aye, welcome to your first Scottish-style title shindig, Ronny Deila. Despite our ain folk boasting a hard-living reputation to rival even the nutty Norwegians, you may find the time bell being rung with indecent haste.
In a little over 10 weeks from now, Celtic will kick off their new season with a Champions League second qualifying round tie; in a further reminder that summer football is already being imposed on us by Europe, Scotland’s title holders will be in action 24 or 48 hours before the Open Championship tees off at St Andrews.
And so Deila, who understands that the Premiership flag claimed in anti- climactic circumstances on Saturday is a prerequisite for any Celtic boss, must already be focused on repairing the reputational damage done — to both club and their relatively new head coach — last summer.
The former Stromsgodset coach, only denied a proper crack at a domestic Treble by a horrendous refereeing non-decision, has earned himself some merit stars by doing a Double.
But he knows the score. He knows that, if some were willing to overlook the summer’s failure to capitalise on a Champions League reprieve, arguing that the new man had barely even met his squad, there will be no wiggle room this time around.
Now, some facts. Deila will be well rewarded for his labours, while the resources available to him at Celtic — even in these comparatively straightened times — dwarf those of his richest domestic rivals.
The man who turned up to be i nterviewed f or the assistant manager’s job last summer was considered to have won the lottery when the Celtic board gave him the No 1 gig.
It’s hard to espouse much sympathy for a young manager promoted several rungs above his immediate expectation levels into something of a plum post.
Yet with greater resources come heightened expectations. At ‘Godset, his job was to win the league, an achievement enough to provoke wild celebrations in the tiny town of Drammen. There were no grey areas over what constituted success and failure.
He would have been aware that Celtic — from the most ardent support to the most exalted shareholder — apply a different set of criteria to their players and coaching staff.
However, even if by some miracle Rangers were to both progress through the promotion play- offs and arrive in the top flight in shape to mount a serious title challenge, what exactly would represent success for Deila and his team?
Given that Celtic are seeded all the way through the qualifying rounds, most would expect them to make a decent fist of reaching the Champions League group stages.
That assumes, of course, that the board provide the resources needed to recruit — or at least retain — the talent necessary to win so much as a toehold in the world’s richest cup competition.
Every Celtic fan has an opinion on what their club should and shouldn’t do this summer. Most would volunteer to drive Aleksandar Tonev back to the Midlands following the end of his loan spell, while one or two might be willing to cut their losses on Stefan Scepovic.
Defensively, there has been plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth about whether Virgil van Dijk and Jason Denayer will stay, with the former a transfer target — and the latter apparently being pulled out of Scotland by parent club Manchester City, who would rather he hone his skills in the English Championship.
There is a growing acceptance Celtic should really have signed Aberdeen-bound Graeme Shinnie, the best left-back in the country, to replace Emilio Izaguirre. Plenty feel they could do with another striker to put pressure on Leigh Griffiths, now that John Guidetti seems to have lost his mojo.
What can’t be doubted is that Deila has put his stamp on the team and, with Stuart Armstrong in particular likely to become more of a commanding presence once he gets more comfortable in his surroundings, Celtic are a better team than the one knocked out of the Europa League by Inter Milan.
They’ll need to be much improved on the sorry lot dumped out of the Champions League by both Legia Warsaw and Maribor. Which means Deila still has work to do. No rest for the winners in Scotland, Ronny.