EVEN LOYALTY HAS ITS LIMITS
Lawwell stands by his man but others may not be so patient
COME the daylight, the Aberdeen supporters were proven wrong. Ronny Deila wasn’t sacked in t he morning. Celtic’s 2-1 defeat at Pittodrie created reasonable grounds for speculation. They may be right one day — and that day may come sooner rather than later.
The Parkhead board have offered no public indication of their thinking on the matter. No public anxiety over the fact Aberdeen are now just three points off the summit of the SPFL Premiership.
After a long, lonely three-hour coach journey and a fitful sleep, Deila spoke yesterday morning with his chief executive.
Peter Lawwell appointed the Norwegian. He is his project and, for a variety of reasons, he wants it to work. Yesterday’s conversation, then, was a chin-up exercise rather than an invitation to collect a P45.
‘I have people I talk with,’ admitted Deila. ‘If not, this would be very, very lonely.
‘Peter is an important man. I talk with him a lot.He has lots of experience and provides safety for a manager.
‘He is understanding of my situation all the time. Peter knows Celtic because he has been here so many years. He is experienced and a strong and intelligent man.
‘We are honest with each other and that’s what’s important. That’s a positive.
‘It’s important that the board and everybody are working together. If there are going be conflicts, then it’s harder to believe in what you are doing and stay on the right track.
‘Everybody needs to feel trusted and loved. Every person needs that.’
The problem for Deila here is obvious. Because he picked him, Lawwell has good reason to wish his manager well. Others have looser ties to the Norwegian.
Many supporters tired of the Ronny Roar a while ago and want him gone. Journalists see a thoroughly decent man and like him, but have an obligation to report on the fact results and performances are not living up to the promises of jam tomorrow.
Last, but not least, is Dermot Desmond. Celtic’s major shareholder owes him nothing beyond a l egal obligation to honour the balance of his contract.
What Desmond thinks of this situation is the key to whether Deila still has a future at Celtic.
‘I have talked with Peter since last night,’ revealed Deila. ‘I also speak with Dermot often. He is a clever man and knows what business is about and how football works.
‘ We have conversations to understand what page we are on. How I’m thinking, how he is thinking. That has been good all the time.’
Yet the fact remains: patience and loyalty have their limits.
See off Aberdeen — with goal difference Celtic are effectively four ahead — and they face Champions League qualifiers worth £16million to the club in July.
Deila has a wretched record in Europe. He has failed twice. Large numbers of the Celtic support now believe the board can’t afford to give him a third go.
‘That’s normal,’ he said. ‘ That’s what it is to be a fan. When things are not going good, you have doubts.’
The same must be true of directors, whatever they tell the current manager. If Celtic’s board are not contingency-planning already, they are f ailing i n their duties to shareholders.
Rumours of a summer move for Northern Ireland’s Michael O’Neill abound. The stock of the BBC Sport Coach of the Year is high and rising. The problem is that his Euro 2016 commitments could overlap with a critical pre-season.
It’s hard enough for a manager to lead Celtic to the Champions League without proper preparation.
There will be the usual glut of improbable outsiders. Former Apoel Nicosia coach Ivan Jovanovic took an unfancied club to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and is available.
More predictable names such as Roy Keane, Malky Mackay and Neil Lennon will also be debated.
But Celtic’s plight is obvious. Champions League outsiders for three years now, the Scottish league is an unattractive prospect for the kind of manager supporters crave. David Moyes and Brendan Rodgers have affection for the club. But to think either will manage Celtic next is surely a pipe dream.
Understandably, then, directors want Deila to succeed. He initiated improvement at Stromsgodset and, despite evidence the team have gone backwards this season, he has turned things around before.
‘I have been here many times,’ Deila insisted. ‘I lost six games in a row. That was a hard time, in my first year as a coach. That was an important learning curve.
‘The worst thing you can do in hard times is to think you know everything. When you don’t trust anyone, then you get into trouble.
‘We are a team, we have to stay together, work and talk together. We need to put demands on each other, but in a positive way. That is how you change the results. What I have done — and this is something you have to give me credit for — is that I have turned things around.
‘This is the first time I have lost two (domestic) games in a row, as long as I have been at Celtic. So I have done well to turn things around because I know how to do it.’
Whatever the messageboards and social media say, Deila claims ‘90 per cent’ of supporters he meets are cordial and supportive.
Many now suspect problems at Celtic extend beyond the manager. That player recruitment and budgetary restrictions are bigger, structural issues.
And yet Deila has been given funds to sign 22 new faces in his 18 months in charge. Against Aberdeen, only four of them started.
Glamour pre- season friendlies were rejected to tailor things to his specifications, Norwegian medical and sports- science staff were acquired when there were already able practitioners in place.
Deila, then, has had the support of Celtic’s board. Asked to pen his own report card, he admits he owes them better.
‘I have done very good things but there are things I could do better,’ he said. ‘I don’t think that is a bad season. If you see the big picture, there are a lot of positive things but I am first to say that there are things I could have done better.
‘Whatever happens, you look at yourself and say: “This was not a good performance”.
‘But I don’t think I’m the only one who has had these problems at this club. All the successful ones have also had hard times.
‘I had hard time in Stromsgodset as well, but when you go through it you learn something and then you get stronger. Life is a battle.’
The battle with Aberdeen is the key to winning the bigger war. One he simply can’t afford to lose if he is counter the growing suspicion he is already a dead man walking.
Peter is very understanding. We all need to be trusted and loved