CELTIC is a club which, due to its long and proud history and huge and fanatical support, holds lofty ambitions.
Yet, the restrictions the Parkhead outfit operates under in Scotland can make it difficult for those in charge of its affairs both off the field and on it to realise them on a consistent basis.
Ronny Deila readily accepts his team should have overcome a Malmo side which his Norwegian compatriot Age Hareide put together on a fraction of the budget available to him in the Champions League play-off.
Yet, the size and stature of some of the clubs which went into the Europa League draw in Monaco yesterday – including Ajax and Fenerbahce alongside Celtic in Group A – underline it is not an altogether uncommon problem in European football.
It is one, though, which Deila is prepared to accept and one which he believes the men responsible for overseeing the club finances, including major shareholder Dermot Desmond, are conscious of.
The Celtic manager is confident the Scottish champions are continuing to improve despite the disappointment of failing to progress to the knockout stages of the continent’s premier club competition - and is hopeful he will be given the opportunity to achieve their ultimate goal.
“Celtic is a Champions League club,” said Deila. “If you see the size of the club, if you look at the history, it is a Champions League club. But right now we have a Europa League team. That is how it is. We know if we play at our best we can go into the Champions League and be at the group stages.
“You can see it at Ajax too. They are in the same position too. They have to build talent and when they have good years they will get into the Champions League, but some years they have young players and they need to develop and they don’t get in.
“We bring in players who are prospects, who can be good. We are not bringing in players who have had a great career and who are coming here with that knowledge – we have to develop that.
“The only way to develop that is through culture. Teach them how we want to play and things we do on the pitch. And it is about experiences. So many players have had very good progress in the last year.
“We have a young team that is developing all the time and we had a very good run of results right up until this game. In the end we didn’t finish it and that is very disappointing, but then these young players get more experience and we will learn from it.”
Deila added: “If you look at the economy side of the club it is not among the best in Europe. But we have the economy to be in the Champions League and be in the group stages. We have more money than Malmo so getting into the group stages is something we should do. Not every year, but often, in my opinion.
“To win the Champions League, that is a big, big step because we are not in that league – the history and the size of the club make us one of the biggest – but if you look at the economy we are not even close to the Manchester United and Barcelona and those types of club.”
“Everybody wants results, but every club and every manager and every player has set-backs. For me, as long as I see progress then I know also that results will come. This year, this qualification campaign, there has been a lot of positive things as well.
“Next year we should have even more knowledge and experience – if we can keep the team. I am as disappointed as everyone else is, but I have to see the big picture and I know the club is doing this as well.”
Desmond, the wealthy Irish businessman and financier who owns the largest individual stake in Celtic, was at the game on Tuesday night and Deila confirmed he had spoken to him since a reverse which will cost the Glasgow club around £13 million in lost revenue.
“I don’t want to go into detail what our conversation was about but what I can say is he’s a very intelligent man who knows how to run businesses and football clubs,” he said.
‘Honesty is the most important thing in whatever you are doing. No one goes through life without doing good jobs and bad jobs. But the best players and people are learning all the time and get on. This club is in progress. That’s the only thing I am sure of. I’m really looking forward to the future.”
Deila has looked back on Celtic’s abject display in their 2-0 defeat to Malmo on Tuesday night in an attempt to identify what went wrong and he believes an inability to deal with the expectations of the support was partially responsible.
“That is something you have to learn to handle because that is how it is with Celtic,” he said. “The clubs we are meeting see it as fantastic if they get in there, but for us if we don’t get in then it is a disaster and that is a different mindset.
“We have to think about it in the right way and think about our performances and not think about everything else. There was too much energy going out on things that don’t have anything about the game. It is about how we play the game and get the right energy out on the pitch, that is the most important thing.”
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