Celtic stand by Ronny Deila after title success

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell admits they took a risk in appointing Ronny Deila as manager – but he feels the Norwegian's first title win can be a launch pad to lasting success. Celtic retained the Scottish Premiership title after Aberdeen lost 1-0 at Dundee United on Saturday.

Deila was a relative unknown in Scotland before being installed as Neil Lennon's successor last summer. But the Norwegian had led unfashionable Stromsgodset to the title in his native land and Lawwell was persuaded to take the bold step after interviewing the then 38-year-old after Roy Keane had turned down the chance to take the job.

Lawwell told Celtic’s club website: “Clearly, as part of my job, you need to be aware of what’s going on in the football world and we knew about Ronny and what he had and what he achieved, and the skills and attributes he had, so when we were looking for a manager he was on the list.

“We met him, he was very, very impressive and although some would think we took a risk – which we probably did – we felt that he was an ideal candidate for Celtic and he fitted really well with our strategy, which is to create a winning, entertaining football team, to create football players, to create a team, a backroom staff and develop players, and he’s been fantastic.

“So he has done remarkably well, I’m really confident for the future that, after this first year, he now has a foundation.

“He’s a winner, he’s a champion and there will be a really solid foundation to take this magnificent club forward.”

The wisdom of the gamble was initially not so clear. Celtic were knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers twice – once by Legia Warsaw and then by Slovenians Maribor after the Polish champions were punished for fielding a suspended player.

But an eight-game winning streak in the Scottish Premiership got them on top of the table and Deila then won the support of Celtic fans.