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The Many Reasons Ronny Has To Go

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Ronny Deila has come to the end of the road. Some of our fans are in favour of giving him until the end of the season. Others want him gone right away. Few, if any, still support his being boss for the start of the next campaign.

When he was appointed I was one of many who applauded the move, believing our board when they said he was a talented up and coming boss with radical new ideas which would take our club in a fresh, and exciting, direction. Some disagreed, saying he was a cheap option. They bristled when it was discovered that he had originally been pegged as Lennon’s number two.

In the first season we saw some positive signs, along with some alarming ones. Most notable was our drive towards the treble. Most frightening were our early displays in Europe and signs of tactical naivety which haunted his second spell in charge.

In the second season, it all went wrong, and it’s time we did a proper analysis of what happened and why. Ronny seemed to have good concepts. At the heart of what he was trying to do was a revolution of sorts … and perhaps that’s part of the problem.

But as time went by, it became clearer and clearer that this job was simply overwhelming him.

Now that it’s almost over, it’s time to see what lessons can be learned.

First up … let’s be clear on one thing ….

He Was Never In Total Control Of His Destiny

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With Ronny I got scared early on, and I wrote an article about it at the time.

It started at his very first press conference when Peter Lawwell imposed an assistant manager and a signing on him.

The signing was Craig Gordon; not a disaster, because he’s done well. But no manager should need to put up with that and it was an initial confirmation that the signing strategy wasn’t entirely within his purview.

Far worse was the imposition of Collins, an arrogant egotist who many predicted, from the off, would be a divisive figure.

Few who’ve encountered him or who know his history believed this would work out, and his appointment has been an utter disaster with him contributing not one positive element to the overall strategy except perhaps one; I’ve long suspected he was appointed as somebody’s “eyes and ears” in the dressing room, which undermined the manger from the off and betrayed a lack of faith in his ability at the very top of the club.

Regardless, his appointment was the moment it became clear that Ronny was a guy who’d been brought in to implement someone else’s plan.

From that moment on there were legitimate concerns, and they remain today.

One of the first people to follow Deila out the door will definitely be John Collins.

The only question that remains to be asked was whose idea was the former Hibs boss anyway?

Because that person is also responsible for this absolute fiasco.

Our European Form Is Disastrous

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Ronny was sent into the first European campaign woefully under-prepared and so it’s possible, perhaps, to give him a pass.

But that’s only good up to a point.

Performances in that first Champions League campaign were plainly diabolical, and you can only make excuses so far. Furthermore, taken in hindsight, with this season’s European results on top of them, you see a picture of a manager hopelessly and woefully out of his depth on that stage, and incapable of learning from his mistakes.

Legia Warsaw destroyed us; there’s no other way to put it.

The most fortuitous turn of events in our recent history gave us a second chance at going to the Groups.

We blew that in spectacular fashion with a pitiful surrender at home against Maribor.

Revisionists will say that after his shaky start our Europa League campaign in that first season was a success. It was, if you’re judging against the cataclysm of this year. In truth, it was an exercise in total mediocrity. We won two, drew two and lost two in a group that wasn’t exactly comprised of genuine class. Inter Milan was the glint of hope; we were excellent over the two legs, and that covered a multitude of sins in the games before it.

This season was a scorching lesson in how shockingly bad we’ve become.

The Champions League campaign was over almost before it began, with a disgraceful night in Malmo sending us out.

Those who said we’ve “found our level” in the Europa League were given the rudest awakening of all, as we swiftly proved we were nowhere near even that standard.

No wins in six games. A miserable, disgusting, three points.

Bottom of the group and a goal difference of minus four.

Catastrophic, but all too predictable.

There’s a reason why things were so bad. Tactics.

His Ridiculous Tactical Inflexibility

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There are two possible explanations for Ronny Deila’s alarming tactical inflexibility; either it’s enormous arrogance or it’s a complete absence of other options. Either way, the consequence is the same. Teams who don’t come into games having already figured us out learn enough that when we next take the field against them they have the knowledge to counter them.

Sometimes our superior playing pool tips the balance.

All too often, teams are able to strangle our creativity and pick us off. Even in some of the games we’ve won this season, it’s been clear that the opposition has us figured out. Those teams which have the personnel to make us pay for it have invariably done so, often with ease.

Nowhere was this clearer than in Europe, where the stuttering starts Ajax and Fenerbahce made at Celtic Park were a clear sign that these teams hadn’t quite sussed how we played. Yet in neither case did we win those games; their managers quickly adapted, and from there on they pulled us all over the park.

Ajax punished us in Amsterdam.

Fenerbahce would have defeated us at home had they not been reduced to ten men with a quarter of the game left.

This isn’t to say Scottish teams are equally capable of figuring us out, and causing us problems.

Even without having watched Celtic in the flesh, Sevco’s boss had our measure yesterday and knew exactly how we’d approach the game. Warburton wasn’t the first to defeat us simply by setting up his team counter to how he knew we’d line up.

Several managers who’ve gotten one over on Ronny this season have actually told the press they knew they’d win before the games even began.

This is damning.

What they really mean is that they knew our system inside out, because it never changes, and they knew how to shut it down and pick us off.

The indictment is the manager’s and his alone.

Which is to say nothing for how piqued Celtic fans get at the depressing sight of Leigh Griffiths playing up front on his own. This isn’t Celtic. We have never, in our history, been asked to tolerate a playing system utilising only one attacker.

It does not suit us.

It does not work.

And Deila, in two seasons, has yet to sign players who fit into it.

Which brings us to another of his failings. Signings.

His Transfer Record Is Absolutely Scandalous

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You could argue all day and all night about whether or not Ronny Deila has been properly backed in the transfer market; I would suggest he’s been hung out to try in terms of the money he’s been given. Neil Lennon is widely believed to have left because he saw the writing on the wall in that regard, because he could not stomach further downsizing.

Right or wrong, the austerity that’s been forced on Ronny Deila is quite real, which made it all the more important that he got it right when it came to bringing in players.

Unfortunately, this is his most shocking failing.

He has squandered almost every single penny, either wasting it on absolute dreck or spending it on players he has no idea how to utilise properly. Those who would argue he’s not actually in charge of transfer policy might be onto something; this makes it even worse, because if true he’s clearly not strong enough to impose his will on the scouting and signing team, even to the point where it’s cost him his job.

Bad judgement, or just astoundingly weak?

It matters not.

The result is the same.

During his time in charge, a mere two seasons and four transfer windows, Celtic have brought in an astonishing 23 players, including loanees.

For the record, here are their names:

Carlton Cole; Erik Sviatchenko; Stuart Armstrong; Scott Allan; Ryan Christie; Josef Simunovic; Tyler Blackett; Nadir Ciftci; Logan Bailly; Saidy Janko; Dedryk Boyata; Gary Mackay-Steven; John Guidetti; Stefan Scepovic; Mubarak Wakaso; Jason Denayer; Jo Inge Berget; Colin Kazim-Richards; Aleksander Tonev; Craig Gordon; Patrick Roberts and Michael Duffy. Kristoffer Ajar is on his way.

How many successes in there?

How many first team players, who’ve made a position their own?

There are two full teams there, and yet there’s a gross imbalance in our squad.

We have one goal scoring striker. We have zero cover at right back, and but for the emergence of Kiernan Tierney we’d have no cover on the left either. Our wide players are so ineffectual Deila has played numerous players out of position in order to fit his ridiculous system. We have no holding midfielder to speak of except Brown, who’s not a natural in that position. We have more central midfielders, on the other hand, than any club needs … and none of them capable of that killer pass, that skill that can open up a packed defence and feed a lone striker.

Not only is his tactical system incoherent, but he’s made no real effort to sign players to fit it.

No-one can figure out why he signed players like Allan and Christie just to let them rot.

The regression of obvious talent like Stuart Armstrong is terrifying.

What money Deila’s had he’s squandered on junk. Ciftci and Scepovic are glaring examples, players he signed apparently without understanding where they fit into his own system … if he signed them at all. Either way, we’ve wasted millions on “his” players.

Managers have been sacked for less.

He Is Weak, Which Breeds Indiscipline And Disrespect

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From the moment he was over-ruled at his first press conference, Ronny Deila seemed weak. Even on his good days, that haunts me and over time it’s become apparent just how accurate my initial assessment from that day was.

How many times has he reversed himself now?

Who’s counting anymore?

He was the manager who said he didn’t like loan signings, only to make four in his first window. He was the manager who wanted to impose a fitness regime on the squad, just to backtrack when players weren’t buying into it. He was the manager who said his players had looked “scared” after a defeat, only for a half dozen of them to go to the media and openly contradict him.

He apologised for that and “clarified” his remarks.

When Scott Brown was pictured sitting in a gutter, the manager said he had no issue with it.

When Callum McGregor was fined for drunk driving, Ronny Deila made excuses for the player.

And when Kris Commons verbally lashed the whole of the management team in Molde some said he’d played his last game for the club.

The manager allowed the matter to rest after a “conversation.”

A few weeks later, Commons sent a sarcastic tweet after being left out of a match – the natural consequence when players no longer respect the boss and know they can get away with public displays of pique.

These are but a handful of examples, all pointing to one conclusion; this guy does not command the authority necessary to be an effective Celtic boss.

In Conclusion …

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Ronny Deila is certainly a nice guy, but he’s also hopelessly miscast as Celtic boss.

In hindsight, the decision to appoint him has been a calamitous one.

Two league titles and a single cup win might have been good enough had the football been decent and had there been signs of improvement and a positive direction of travel … but it’s just not there and over the last few months any faith the fans had in this guy has gone, completely.

The board is kidding itself if they think keeping this guy in place for the last five games is going to fly.

He might get through them – don’t bet on it – but he’s not going to win any new friends over the course, and the discontent is going to be clear.

It’s all over and all that remains now is for the axe to fall.

We’re in the endgame.

The sooner it’s finished, the better our club will be.

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