![\"gravestone\"](\"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gravestone.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAnyway, looking forward to tonight, after I spent a bit of time \u00a0catching up, Ronny Deila gave us his thoughts on this seasons European campaign;<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be nervous or you are not human. You get tense. But it is different to be nervous than afraid. I\u2019m not afraid.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI have plans and dreams with the team. I know this season can be fantastic if we beat Legia and go on to reach the Champions League.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI really want to get there and this is my first opportunity.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cMy reputation and the way I work will come into it more over time. But the goal is to get a flying start and go straight in.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cMy goals are to play Champions League every year, to win everything in Scotland, to develop a culture at all levels and to play nice football the fans like. We will see in a season or two if I reach those goals.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Has anyone mentioned to him that he won’t have a season or two ?<\/p>\n \u201cI can feel comfortable with the start we have made. I can look myself in the mirror and say I\u2019ve done everything I can to get the team prepared for this tie. We will now see how good it is.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cMy dream is to play a really big European team and control the game. I want to have more passes than them and just blow the opposition away.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Has anyone mentioned to him the idea is to score more goals than the other team ?<\/p>\n \u201cIt is about moments. Trophies are important but I don\u2019t remember the trophies I won in Norway.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Tony Watt could tell him all about moments… Oh, maybe he can’t. Deila sold him to Standard Liege , claiming he had a problem with his commitment and his professionalism, and, interestingly, that “we ” had been watching him for a while. A month ?<\/p>\n \u201cI remember moments \u2013 driving to the stadium, seeing the people happy. Playing fantastic football to win and the young kids are smiling. I get goosebumps from that.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I came to watch Celtic play Barcelona at home last season it was unbelievable. Think what it would be like if Celtic could also control the game. That would be awesome, fantastic.\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I can understand the sentiment, and it would be great to have this invincible , dominant side but realistically, it isn’t going to happen. Not without a complete restructure of every aspect of the club. Which would involve bringing youngsters through, teaching them ” all the right habits ” , and so on.<\/p>\n Anyone else hear Tony Mowbray when Deila speaks ?<\/p>\n Frankly, just concentrate on the game in front of you and leave the dreaming to the supporters.<\/p>\n Having said all that though, Celtic should win tonight. There should be too much in the tank , as journalists say when they can’t be bothered pointing out the superior players, tactics , effort and experience.<\/p>\n As I said earlier, I’ve had a couple of days away from the news, and have had a wee look at whats been going on. Tony Watt, as I’ve already said, is away to Standard Liege, and Ronny Deila made it perfectly clear why he’s gone;<\/p>\n \u201cYou have no chance to achieve your dreams if you don\u2019t work and sacrifice everything,\u201d said Deila. \u201cNo player does. It is about commitment.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to be a Celtic player, then you have to commit and you have to make that sacrifice. You have to live like a top athlete 24 hours a day, seven days a week and then you can reach the top.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Footballers aren’t stupid. Well, not all of them. For instance, they know when they haven’t played well, they know when they haven’t put the effort in. And they know when they aren’t preparing or training properly. If he is talking to the players like they are all kids, then the experienced lads will cease to respect him. He’s a football manager, not a schoolteacher.<\/p>\n \u201cTony hasn\u2019t progressed as we wanted so far and I think that\u2019s because he hasn\u2019t been getting into the right culture, realising the consequences and changing his mentality.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI think now it\u2019s good for him to start all over and to be the professional he needs to be to get to the highest level that he can.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n So, this coach , with the reputation of being able to develop players, has given up on Tony Watt after just a month ? It doesn’t say a lot for his patience. However, the flip side is that Watt has now had three managers say the same thing about him, so there must be something in what he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is no co-incidence that Celtic\u2019s three players at the World Cup finals were Fraser Forster, Emilio Izaguirre and Efe Ambrose. They are top professionals. They stay after training, they go to bed at 10pm, they do everything perfect. The culture they have is the one we want to give the young Scottish players.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0You could also argue that these players were at the World Cup because their countries qualified, or is it a dig at Virgil van Dijk, who has attracted a few headlines for the wrong reasons ?<\/p>\n \u00a0So, with Watt away, Celtic moved into the transfer market and swooped ( Thats what teams do , isn’t it ? Swoop ? ) for Jo Inge Bergott, from Cardiff City. Well, sort of from Cardiff City. He can’t get a game for him. Deila knows him of old, and must be confident he can do a job. Not confident enough to sign him permanently, its only a loan.<\/p>\n \u00a0Theres that Tony Mowbray spectre again…..<\/p>\n \u00a0Now , theres every chance that Bergott will turn out to be a superstar, but please don’t compare him to those previous “unknowns ” we signed Henrik Larsson and Lubomir Moravcik. Larsson had already played in \u00a0the latter stages of a World cup, and Moravcik had made 76 appearances for Czechoslovakia.<\/p>\n \u00a0But if Deila knows him, and rates him, why not just buy him ?<\/p>\n \u00a0Theres also a new coach arrived, Haaken Lunov. He did three years with Deila in Norway, and replaces Garry Parker, who went at the end of last season; Deila said;<\/p>\n “Haakon has extreme expertise in analysis.<\/em><\/p>\n “He’s ambitious and very concerned with development. We have been looking for someone like him and we now have a great resource.”<\/em><\/p>\n Lunov is confident his unique skill set will transfer well to Celtic said: “There’s a need for graduates in football.<\/em><\/p>\n “In most big clubs in Europe, there’s a mix of coaches with a playing and academic background.”<\/em><\/p>\n \n It looks like the foundations are being put in place for a huge transformation of the way things are to be done at Celtic, with the emphasis on youth development. Thats, in itself, a great idea. Theres nothing better than seeing one of your own come through, nothing better than a player staying with the club because its what he wants to do.<\/p>\n \u00a0If thats the plan, then thats fine. As long as we can see its going somewhere. My biggest fear is that Deila has been brought in to develop players so we can continue to sell them on swiftly at a profit.<\/p>\n \u00a0Which brings me to the stories about those who want to leave. Which seems to be pretty much everyone. Deila said he didn’t want to rock the boat, and would introduce any changes gradually. If he has looked at how things are, and decided it needs urgently changing, then thats fair enough. There might be a clue in his statement about footballers going to bed at ten pm, not literally, but metaphorically.<\/p>\n You just have to hope he knows what he’s doing.<\/p>\n \u00a0So far, Virgil van Dijk , Fraser Forster, Lukasz Zaluska and Efe Ambrose have been linked with moves away. That was not unexpected. Southampton, heavily in debt , have had to sell their family jewels to pay the bills, and consequently, are looking to replace them by shopping north of the border where its a bit cheaper. Some reports say that their targets, van Dijk and Forster, won’t be landed until Celtic have made it to the group stages of the Champions League. Others reckon they are already on the train south.<\/p>\n \u00a0Zaluska, having patiently played a role as back up to Fraser Forster, has let fly with an astonishing outburst which shows either he’s just in a bit of a mood, or there is serious unrest in the dressing room;<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a new coach, Ronny Deila, and he has introduced new tactics, but we\u2019ve not yet been involved in a serious match to test them. We beat a team from Iceland without any hassle, so we will get our first real test this week.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIn our team, Samaras left because the club didn\u2019t offer him a new contract. For \u2028the first time since I\u2019ve been at\u00a0Celtic<\/span>\u00a0in almost five years, the club has not bought one player\u00a0this summer.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cEvery year something has happened, but now there is silence. We have played two years in a row in the Champions League group\u00a0stages<\/span>\u00a0and we have 40,000\u00a0season ticket holders<\/span>, so any rumour about the poor \u2028financial\u00a0condition<\/span>\u00a0of the club is probably exaggerated. And without Rangers, the league is not what it once was.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The latter presumably added by an exuberant hack who figured he might as well fling in the question anyway.<\/p>\n \u00a0Then theres Kris Commons. Last seasons top scorer looks as though he might go the way of last seasons top scorer, with Leicester reviving their interest. Commons ordinarily wouldn’t look twice at this move, but there are whispers that he wants a three year deal, and \u00a320k or more a week.<\/p>\n \u00a0That would take him to the age of 34, with little or no re-sale value. Thats assuming he runs down his contract. \u00a0Apparently its why Celtic are reluctant to deal him in. Which may explain the dealys. Commons has wanted this new deal for months.<\/p>\n \u00a0On the one hand, Deila might well have a system he can teach players, and from the evidence of the second game against Reykjavik, it might just work.<\/p>\n \u00a0On the other, theres a real fear that he is changing too much too quickly, perhaps he has to, and maybe Tony Watt was just the first to go.<\/p>\n \u00a0Or, could he be the scapegoat, his sale speedily engineered to give everyone else a signal as to who is in charge now ?<\/p>\n \u00a0Whoever that might turn out to be ?<\/p>\n \u00a0I’m confident about tonights game. If Celtic play the way they did against Reykjavik, then I expect a win. Quite a convincing one, as well. The system, which is not unlike the way Chile played in the World Cup, is very difficult to play against. The players seemed to know their jobs last week, and theres no reason to think that Legia will be able to deal with it.<\/p>\n If Celtic want to win, they will.<\/p>\n \u00a0But if alls not well in the camp, theres a long , hard season ahead.<\/p>\n \u00a0And I’m going to have to get some more paracetomol and go back to bed.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Celtic can take a big step towards Champions League qualification tonight (okay, thats lazy -its what the lass on SSN just said before the adverts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/legia-v-celtic.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-1pt","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5423"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5426,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5423\/revisions\/5426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}