TRY THINKING LIKE SIR ALEX
Deila says a winning mentality is vital for managers
ARONNY DEILA appearance on Celebrity Mastermind would be unlikely to feature the history of Aberdeen as a specialist subject.
The Norwegian knows Derek McInnes personally. Beyond that, he struggles to name a single Dons manager from the last 30 years.
‘Everybody remembers Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen,’ he admitted. ‘Why? Because he won.
‘A lot of other managers have been at Aberdeen but I can’t name one of them almost.’
There are reasons Ferguson came to be known as a managerial genius even before his success at Manchester United.
He signed good players, drilled them tightly, convinced them they could beat Celtic and Rangers in Glasgow. And he was never afraid to say so.
‘If you say you will win it and don’t do it, so what?’ said Deila, an advocate of the same strategy.
‘There is only one who can do it — there will be nine or 10 losers, not just you.
‘But if you don’t say it and think it, how are you going to do it? You have to believe.
‘As an individual athlete, you have to always say that you want to be the best.
‘Maybe you won’t get there the first year but it’s why you are doing it. ‘That’s the same in football.’ Bosman, the explosion of television revenues in the major leagues and internal strife in Scottish football, has changed the landscape since Aberdeen were in their 1980s prime.
But Deila sees that Ferguson’s side overcame bigger, wealthier clubs once. A title-winning coach with unfancied Stromsgodset in Norway, he sees no reason they can’t do so again.
Others are now less sure. Wednesday’s 0-0 home draw with Partick Thistle has raised questions over the Pittodrie club’s strength and staying power.
Two opportunities to return to the top of the Premiership have now been missed.
Deila declined to speculate on what might be going on in the minds of Aberdeen management and players.
But he will reiterate what he has said many times before. Unless the personnel at a football club genuinely believe they can win the league, it’s unlikely to happen.
‘That’s the hard part in football,’ said the Norwegian. ‘We have experience of being on top, we have demands on us all the time. So there are parts of the pressure at Celtic you are very used to living under.
‘I don’t know what Aberdeen are thinking about it. It is very hard for me to say. I haven’t seen their performance against Partick.
‘But to win the league you have to be very consistent, that’s the most important thing.
‘You need to improve all the time and find small things to get better at. You have to push but you need to be patient as well.
‘Aberdeen have done a lot of things we did (at former club Stromsgodset) and they really need to have the belief you can do it and stay in the race a lot. It is about experience. It is possible.’
McInnes believes his team deserve credit rather than criticism for sticking close to Celtic’s tail. Others, inevitably, see things differently.
Celtic supporters ask why Deila finds himself subjected to intense scrutiny while top of the league. His nearest rival, meanwhile, receives a largely positive press for sitting second.
‘I haven’t followed how much criticism you are giving to Aberdeen,’ said Deila of that.
‘But Celtic is Celtic. It’s about the history and we have unbelievable supporters — it’s a massive club.
‘But, having said that, Aberdeen are much bigger than a lot of the other clubs as well. They have peace. They have consistency. And they have added good players.
‘So they should grow as we should do here at Celtic and everyone else as well.’
Aberdeen’s inconsistency may yet be a mixed blessing for Deila. Their failure to return to the top of the league eases pressure on his own head while raising the possibility of Celtic’s board spending less on new faces in the January window.
Last year the arrival of Dundee United duo of Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven for £1.5million gave Celtic added impetus and Deila hopes for the same again.
‘We brought in some good players and became even better as a team,’ he said. ‘I think we looked very solid in the last part of the season and that’s something we want to do now.
‘We had both the ability and the mentality but the squad had been together for six months and the team became settled. We also had a very good defence which was hard to break down.
‘I think we hardly conceded five goals throughout the whole of spring. It was very good. Offensively, we started to click better, too, and that made the big difference.”
The expectation is that the Parkhead club will make signings again. Possibly as many as three or four.
Deila has already said he wants experienced, proven players willing to commit themselves to the club in the long-term. None of which spells good news for Aberdeen.
Asked if he would still be preaching a positive message were he facing the same financial obstacles as Pittodrie manager, he paused.
‘That’s a difficult question. Of course, every club I coach, I want to win trophies. I said that every year at Stromsgodset, even when I knew we were not going to win it.
‘If you don’t set high goals, you will never win the league. You have to say that you want to do it.
‘We said it three years in a row at Stromsgodset but didn’t do it until the last time. Everything is possible … if you work in the right way.’
If you don’t set high targets, you will never win the league