I will dig deep to find another Johansen jewel
Deila transformed Norway midf ielder from rough diamond to a polished Parkhead performer — now he’s ready to unearth more gems for new employers
I heard that there were problems with his attitude but, from the first day, he worked really hard. Stefan was patient and it took him a year to get to the level we needed If you give people their dreams, that is what it’s all about. I want to win trophies but helping players progress to fulfil their ambitions, that is what gives me energy
PETER LAWWELL is fond of describing them as the uncut diamonds. They are the promising players Celtic sign, allow to shine, then produce polished for profitable sale. Few were rougher around the edges than Stefan Johansen when Lawwell’s new Norwegian gemologist Ronny Deila placed him under unflattering scrutiny for a grading in 2010.
The then Stromsgodset manager loved what he saw in another Bodo/ Glimt player, Anders Konradsen, but was not short of suspicions when examining the credentials of his team-mate Johansen.
The most deep-set concern, however, was that this man on trial could be lost to the game for good. So, after parting with a modest outlay for Konradsen, the free pickup of his pal was deemed worth the trouble.
And so began a story that, when told by Deila after his unveiling as Neil Lennon’s replacement on Friday at Celtic Park, got the Lawwell grin gleaming by his side.
‘Stefan had a hard time before he came to Stromsgodset, his career was almost going under,’ Deila recalled. ‘He was out the team at his club in the First Division and unhappy. Other coaches had given up. He maybe had one other team to go to but wasn’t a first choice.
‘We bought another player for £100,000, one of only three we paid for when I was there. Then Stefan came as well. I thought: “OK, if we get something out of this, then it is a positive. If not, no problem because there was no financial outlay for Stefan”.
‘I heard before he came that there were problems with his attitude. But, from the first day he arrived, he really worked hard and he worked in the culture that I wanted. If you can’t do anything about a result, then you always have to develop.
‘If you are not in the team, you can say the manager is a bad manager. But you have to think: “Why am I not in the team?” Stefan was always patient. It took him over a year to get to the level where he was ready.
‘He then took over the role of a player who was sold and his career has gone upwards all the way. This is not finished yet. He must still work the same way and stick to the principles, because he can go even higher. Everyone must take the barrier even higher and move himself and this club into a new era.’
The description of the pre-Deila days Johansen is hard to believe. The new Parkhead manager’s former sporting director at his first club, Oyvind Jacobsen, reported last week that Johansen was ‘a little fat perhaps, with a little attitude problem’.
Unrecognisable, then, to the industrious and skilful Norwegian international midfielder who, along with Leigh Griffiths, injected fresh impetus to the second half of Celtic’s Premiership season on arrival in January.
Attitude is certainly something 23-year-old Johansen brought to Glasgow — the right one. Straight off the bat at his unveiling as a Lennon signing, a steely determination and fearless approach to the challenges of his £2million transfer shone through.
This interesting story might be one for the consumption of Tony Watt, following the difficulties he created for himself with a dubious outlook on progressing from his early promise shown at Celtic.
If the 20-year-old striker trains under Deila to such similar effect as Johansen, then another Parkhead pearl will be created.
DEILA will be detailed to win prizes, as is the demand at his new club, but bringing in the pounds is part of the value strategy in the current Scottish football climate. The Celtic business model, and Lawwell, will take care of the finances. With the new manager’s work complementing that ideal, Deila expects to be the man looking after the Celtic players’ football fantasies.
‘I am proud of Stefan, I think about it all the time,’ he said. ‘The other player went to Rennes. So they only cost £100,000 — then sold for £3m or £4m. So, in two years, that is OK money. If the players move on to better things, I will be happy.
‘If someone calls from Barcelona and says they want one of our players, then fantastic. I say to them, including Stefan, that I am going to drive you there if you get that possibility.
‘Because if you make people get their dreams, that is what to win about. You can talk trophies and, again, I wan But if you can do something with people that makes them progress and fulfil those dreams, then that gives me energy.
‘It is like Stefan now at Celtic. He wins the championship, it is an unbelievable achievement for him. I am as much a mentor as a manager. Players want to win trophies, many want to go to the next stage. I can’t do the work for them but I can help them get better.
‘I want to win trophies too and go on to the European stage. But also
I have a goal to show some particular marks, the “Ronny Deila marks” on this team. So that people can see the mark I have made on the team, training the team and developing the players is one of the most important things.’
Deila, who guided Stromsgodset and Johansen to a stunning Norwegian title success for the first time in 43 years, is about to begin mining in new territory to find diamonds fit for Celtic purpose.
The established club scouting network, headed up by John Park, will be a luxury for him compared to the tools at his disposal at Stromsgodset — the club he joined in 2006 initially as player-coach.
The humble and hard way was Deila’s direction to landing the Celtic post and he feels more than equipped for the job that was expected to be claimed by a former star player like Henrik Larsson or Roy Keane.
‘Stromsgodset are a very small club, we never had scouts, we didn’t buy players,’ he explained. ‘We got them as Bosman signings or signed young players out of contract. It was a question of talking to the national team coaches and watching football.
‘It’s OK to work your way up. The hard way is sometimes the best way. To be a manager, you have to be educated. You have two parts. One is about football and if you have played 100 Champions League games then, of course, you have an advantage. You’ve been there.
‘But the other 50 per cent is leadership. To treat people right, to make them feel good and progress. In that part, I have a lot of education. And it’s about personality and learning through experiences. Learn from the positives but also learn from mistakes.’
THE 38-year-old’s education took him to Rennes, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool for the study of training methods. That he was a Liverpool supporter as a kid was far from the main turn-on for the professional, though, as he sought out the secrets of the success of Brendan Rodgers.
‘He’s calm, he has knowledge about the things I talked about like leadership,’ Deila noted. ‘When I talked with him, you felt it. Everyone in the room around him was happy, they had energy. And that’s what I’m after.
‘I want people with energy around me, who want to learn something, to get better. And I will be leading by example. It’s about leadership, about the modern type of football trainer like Brendan.
‘The trainer who is always kicking their players and saying they’re not good enough has distance from players. The new ones like Jurgen Klopp, Rodgers, Manuel Pellegrini — I talked to him also — are close with players.
‘I like to get into people. If you are passive, you are frightened. So I have to get in there and make them feel free, to enjoy playing football. Then you get the energy.
‘No one in my team is going out there who doesn’t want to perform in front of 60,000.’