Ronny Deila pinpoints ‘average players’ for failure to progress at Celtic

Former Celtic manager Ronny Deila has said that he decided to walk away from Celtic due to lack of progress. The Norwegian was candid as he cited too many average players and poor investment as the reasons that his side weren’t able to kick on from their league and cup double in his first season.

Speaking to Graham Spiers’ Press Box podcast, the Norwegian manager said that he did not make the desired progress at Celtic Park and he shouldered that responsibility as the pressures of the job became too much. However, he does pinpoint a lack of prudent investment and average players making up his side.

“If the team doesn’t go forward then I will stay away from the club. I am about progress – developing players, developing teams. I felt we had a lot of improvement in the year 2014/15. We lost a lot of the good players [in 2015/16]. I do not think our signings were good enough – I’m responsible for that as well.

“We, of course, didn’t invest nowhere near the money that was going when Brendan Rodgers came in. So we didn’t have the same money that other managers had. But I felt then that I didn’t take the team further. We had too many average players.

“In the end, the pressure on me as a person was so hard and I think it affected the whole club and also the players a lot. Brendan Rodgers came in, one of the best managers in the world, and he did fantastically. I feel a part of that regarding a lot of things. But at the same time, he had more experience than I had.”

If you take the team in 2014/15, Deila had a defensive pairing of Virgil Van Dijk and Jason Denayer. Both players subsequently left and Deila had to partner Dedryck Boyata with Charlie Mulgrew, Efe Ambrose and then Erik Sviatchenko. Leigh Griffiths was Celtic’s talisman but Deila was short of options in attack. The reliance on Kris Commons also proved that decisions were being taken out of Deila’s hands. He clearly wanted fitness to be at the forefront of his program; however, older pros were unable to adapt and subsequently appeared to undermine the manager. The bust-up in Molde from Commons was nothing short of disgraceful and he shouldn’t have kicked a ball again for the club.

Deila was, however, integral in bringing through Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor and Tom Rogic. The pressures of the job became too much, culminating in a semi-final defeat to Rangers on penalties. On any other day, that game would have been a comfortable win for Celtic but the fates were against Deila.

Ronny won 2 titles and 1 league cup in his time in Glasgow and played a role in the side’s push towards 9IAR. He will be welcomed back with open arms any time and it is only right that the role that he played in developing the club has been accepted and is widely recognised. He was probably put in an impossible position whereby he was only given some tools to do the job with decisions being taken from above with regards to transfers etc.

Deila lifted the MLS Cup with New York City last year and he has been properly praised for the role that he has played in bringing about success in ‘The Big Apple’ for the City Football Group outfit.