Welcome to Celtic Ronny

Article by e-Celtic's Jim Payne

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This week's article will be a lot shorter than previous pieces - which  I imagine, will be of considerable relief to those who've waded through my previous efforts.

Last Friday Celtic appointed Ronny Deila the first team coach of Norwegian Champions Stromgodset as its new manager. Until early on Wednesday virtually nobody here had heard of him. To say his appointment is a big surprise hardly hints at how unexpected it was.

The mainstream media - as well as various former Celts such as Neil Lennon and Andy Walker - suggested that the support would be underwhelmed by the news that a big name/old pal wasn’t coming. A variety of Celtic blogs and quite a few friends' reactions suggested that they were overwhelmed with excitement at the news. Me? I am pretty much whelmed - if the word actually means somewhere between the two extremes (which it doesn't). There's a nagging worry that Celtic have appointed him because he is relatively cheap and that he will have less say in who comes and goes than even Neil Lennon, but for the time being I am prepared to give him and Celtic something more than just the benefit of the doubt. Right now there is no evidence to suggest he won't be Celtic's best managerial choice in 49 years. But then there isn't that much to really to go on at all either way.

There does though seem to be at least modest evidence to suggest that he might be a clever choice. Unlike almost all of his predecessors - Billy MacNeill second time around and Dr Jo Venglos are the exceptions - he's managed a team to a national league title before Celtic has appointed him. His reputation suggests he is a progressive manager in the style of a Klopp or Rogers and that he likes his players to be both fit and skillful. His debut for the Scottish media suggests he’ll be keen to use the younger club the players has in its youth teams. A persistent criticism of Neil Lennon's teams were that they did not train hard enough - this suspicion did not appear to be without justification as Celtic often seemed to tire quickly towards the end of games against skillful European teams. Potentially this is all good news. But we’ve heard this kind of thing before.

But the imponderables are numerous. How will he adapt to life in Scotland? How will he cope at a club which is much bigger (though not necessarily better) than not just the club he left but any club from Norway? How will some of the longer serving Celtic players cope with harder training and possibly less leisure time? How will he cope with having Peter Lawwell telling him who he can and can't sign (should the arrangement Lawwell had with recent managers persist)? Will he really give youth its fling or like his predecessor will he stick with the tried and tested after all? How will he cope with press conferences on the Friday after a big European match or on the eve of a big cup tie when, as may turn out to be the case, the questions are about the division below the one which Celtic will play?

There is nothing to suggest he won't cope admirably with all of these new demand but nor really is there any to suggest he'll cope. He's the most unexpected appointment since at least John Barnes and quite possibly ever. My gut feeling is that he'll do better than Barnes - wow! - and possibly quite a bit better. Good luck Ronny - anything is possible. Great or calamitous.

Oh and is there a World Cup on soon? Good luck Scotland! We aren't in Argentina this time! Er...Wait a minute...© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football