This time last year, Ronny Deila was already in the centre of an ever growing storm. His side was top of the SPL and still in with a chance of winning three domestic trophies. The roof had yet to fall in on all of it, but the pressure was building and he was in trouble.
That trouble grew, steadily, over months. It never let up.
Every reversal was met by a torrent of headlines and abuse. I know, because I wrote some of the headlines. Ronny was a decent guy, doing a job far beyond his abilities. I do believe he will be a top class manager; he has that surety, idealism and the luxury of time, but for that moment he was the wrong man.
As things reached their peak I often wondered whether he was living in denial. Because you saw no sign of panic from him, as though he didn’t realise where events were propelling him. He was so calm, so reasonable, so very decent all the way down the line.
This guy never cracked. Things never got on top of him. There was no detonation.
What a class act Ronny Deila is, on and off the park. A thoroughly genuine man, who must have known his career had been set back, although he won two titles. He handled it all brilliantly, and left with a lot of good will behind him.
Mark Warburton never had pressure here in Scotland.
The media’s mate, from the minute he arrived, they hailed him as a managerial genius although he arrived in Scotland with no discernible achievement in the game – unlike Ronny. He’s not only had a free ride, they gave him tickets for the first class carriage and a steak dinner for lunch.
Well now the party is over.
For the first time ever he’s under real scrutiny, and although it’s come a little bit late in the day – too late to save the club from the wreckage of what he’s built – he’s not dealing with it terribly well. That’s an understatement, in fact.
He’s dealing with it like a kid whose rattle’s been stolen.
He’s wailing, shrieking and throwing the covers out of the pram.
This guy is coming apart at the seams, unspooling fast. It’s a sight to see. His media conference today was extraordinary, coming on the heels of his furious sit-down with the Sevco media office where he lamented the coverage of the game.
Now, Celtic has just come back from a 7-0 hiding in Spain. I’ve read all the media coverage of that match, and I don’t disagree with any of it. I thought we were outplayed by a vastly superior side, but I can’t fault the headlines which say some aspects of our performance were disastrous. Because how can you dispute that after such a score line? We were trounced. It’s one of those times when you’ve got to just suck it up and move on.
The media said much the same things about the game last weekend, and again there was nothing in those with which a rational person could argue. We outplayed Sevco, battered five past them and exposed the gulf between the two teams on the park, one that simply can’t be denied, and which is clearly evidenced in the league table.
Warburton has a problem with all of that, and it seems to me with objective reality itself. There’s not a gulf between the two teams? Seriously? Is anyone that stupid? Had I, had anyone, written that yesterday morning about Celtic and Barcelona the mocking would have been merciless and would have lasted for months. Warburton didn’t even get a hard time for saying that; it was waved away as if was nothing at all. Ridiculous.
But he’s gone on since to say that the media coverage of the whole thing is dreadful. Today he’s even said that it left him “depressed.” When commenting about the game itself, he said “Nobody died” which is a scandalous statement with everything revolving around this fixture. I’ll give him a pass on that, as someone who spoke out of ignorance … but really? What kind of language is this? Nobody died, but he’s depressed? And it’s not depression at the result – which has certainly left their supporters feeling that way – but at the coverage of it?
What are we supposed to say to that?
He’s fragmenting. It’s obvious. And that means his club is one good push from collapse into total crisis. Their supporters cannot take a single bit of comfort from a single thing he’s said since Saturday. Aside from his assertion that they’ll get better – based on who knows what? – he’s offered no solutions, and no hope of finding any. He’s denied that he and his team are out of their league here … he still thinks they can challenge.
At the weekend, they’ll put out a central defence of Danny Wilson and Clint Hill against Ross County. Their fans are terrified of what happens in that game. Pittodrie and Tynecastle loom. If he’s under pressure now it’s liable to get a lot worse.
This is too early for a sacking or a resignation. His team isn’t out of it. It won’t happen in October either, probably not November or even December. But we go to Ibrox on Hogmany. So yes, by the time the final whistle blows in that game … yeah. Le Guen – who he was being compared to this morning – was sacked by Rangers on 4 January 2007.
Ten years to the day? Yes, that sounds about right.
In the meantime, everyone over there is preparing for a long season. There is talk that they went to Brian Kennedy with the begging bowl this week; if they come back empty handed there has to be real doubt about their ability to get through the campaign without administration.
Then the problems on the park will look small time.
Warburton will be gone long before then.
He has that look about him.
Dead Man Walking.