Nothing beats Paradise for home-loving Deila
Celtic manager covets more raucous European nights
EVERYWHERE he goes, there are reminders for Ronny Deila.
The statue of Jock Stein clutching the European Cup stares reverentially at him every time he walks into Celtic Park; a strategically placed photograph of the Lisbon Lions team photograph sits just outside his office door. In keeping with the modern look of the club’s sleek training ground, Lennoxtown boasts of the recent epic chapters in Celtic’s UEFA Champions League history, including a large fisheye frame of Celtic Park shot minutes before kick-off as Neil Lennon’s side beat Barcelona 2-0 in November 2012, an evening befitting the club’s 125th anniversary celebrations.
As such, Deila’s ambitions stretch not to touching down in the great football amphitheatres of the Nou Camp or the Bernabeu with this current Celtic team and causing an upset, but rather in replicating the heady drama of European adventure on home soil, of offering the kind of 90 minutes that lives in the memory long after the bare stats have been consigned to the history books.
“I dream of a lot of great stadiums in Europe. I haven’t been to many,” said the Celtic manager.“You have the English and Spanish teams, Bayern Munich, a lot of really good teams, it would be great to go to these places with Celtic. But it is more fun to be here at Celtic Park than to be at the Nou Camp. It’s fun to go there – but better to bring Barcelona here.
“Why? Because here we have something that is special, the atmosphere – you feel you are part of something bigger. I came over for the Barcelona game, when they lost 1-0. It was unbelievable. I had never seen anything like it.”
The bounty this season for landing an invite to the group stages is estimated at a whopping £22m. For a Scottish team with intentions of competing on a regular basis against the cream of Europe, such financial rewards can be the difference in terms of the quality of player arriving at the club.
Deila acknowledged as much but stressed that his main motivation was not a financial one but rather one of personal ambition. “The money is not so much an issue,” he insisted. “There is a lot of experience in the team and there are many stages that are important for us to get in. But if you took away the money it is the atmosphere to really experience the Champions League and fight against the best teams in the world that is the most motivating.
“It is the same as with the players; you don’t get money out of thinking always about money. You have to love the game and you have to love to train and then the money will come.
“This is what I say to my players: if you want to think always about wanting to be rich you won’t get it. You have to be the best in something and that is how it is in football. Good performances, ok, you get the experience and you also get money. It is about what happens on the pitch, it is about everything. The money is nothing compared with the experience but when you do well everything gets higher. The money helps the club get more secure and we can build even more.”
To realise any European ambition at all this season Celtic’s next challenge comes into sharp focus this week with the arrival of Qarabag on Wednesday evening in the first leg of the club’s third round UEFA Champions League qualifier. It is a game in which the bar will be raised considerably. FC Stjarnan offered slight resistance but the Azerbaijan side are a different prospect entirely. Like Celtic, they enjoyed a decent Europa League campaign last year and their performances against Dnipro, Inter Milan, Saint Etienne and Twente suggest they are a team capable of asking considerable questions of Deila’s side.
“There are so many teams around Europe who are in maybe not so good leagues, but they have a rich owner or a good team,” he said. “Here, we’re talking about a team with Spanish players, two Brazilians. So they have money to invest in the team.”
Given the rewards on offer, financial and otherwise of reaching the group stages, Deila’s pressure over these weeks comes not from above but from within.
There may be a collective plea coming from the Parkhead boardroom as well as from the terraces – UEFA Champions League football adds a unique frisson to the tension of the season that domestic football simply doesn’t, especially given the ease with which Celtic will be expected to retain their Championship title – but it is Deila’s own internal monologue from where the real pressure emanates.
“It is not possible to get more pressure than what you put on yourself,” he said. “This is what you want but you have to always be honest in the situation. If you give out your best and you lose then ok, you have done what you can. But if you play badly and lose that is the worst thing. What we want is to be on our best.”
Celtic will warm up for Wednesday’s first leg with 90 minutes against Rennes at Celtic Park today, although the game will largely by used as a training exercise.