THE Ronny Deila farewell tour rolls on. Its latest stop – at an often intimidating venue in the Gorgie district of Edinburgh – proved to be an especially poignant one. Deila was always going to depart Celtic with a second league title to his name and on Saturday against Hearts that was all but confirmed. Refreshingly eschewing the usual protocol about “waiting until it is arithmetically confirmed”, the Celtic manager took the opportunity to savour the present, contemplate the past, and look optimistically to the future. The last three dates on the tour can now be an occasion for pressure-free celebration and extended goodbyes.

Reflections on the past extended back to the summer of 2014 when he spent the night at the house of chief executive Peter Lawwell prior to becoming Celtic manager. Did he wonder, even privately, back then how long this journey might last? He could not put an exact length on it, although he would have liked his tenure as manager to have lasted beyond just two seasons.

“I’ve been at a few clubs in my life and at some of them have stayed for a while,” he said. “That’s a positive because if you have the right values and treat people the right way then you can stay at a club for a good period. That’s what I wanted here. But the circumstances were not right in the end.”

It has been the steepest of learning curves. Deila delivered success to previous club Stromsgodset but it was a gradual process that unfolded over six years. He was never going to get that kind of time at Celtic, a club with expectations and demands that far outstripped anything he had ever experienced in his native Norway. He has tried, with mixed success, to implement his own ideas and philosophy until it reached the point where he realised he had run into a brick wall and could take Celtic no further.

“I went from first grade to tenth grade when I came here, I didn’t understand what I went into,” he admitted. “But I have been strong and I have learned an unbelievable amount. I have good staff around me and fantastic players. I have built myself a platform for a lot of experience that you can’t get in school or reading books, you have to experience it. I am so motivated to do this and I am proud of a lot of things we have done here.

“The best managers in my opinion are those who can build something up in different places and work outside their comfort zone. I went from Stromsgodset after winning the league because I was starting to get a little bit bored. I haven’t been bored here, I can tell you that! So I brought myself out of my comfort zone and now I am a much stronger person and a more experienced manager as well. I know I have done positive things as well and when you are a Celtic manager you are remembered. Peter said when I signed the contract ‘life will never be the same again’ and I understand now what he was saying. Wherever you are you are recognised as the former Celtic manager.”

He has no regrets about his decision to walk away, will have no pangs of longing should he turn on his television in the summer and see someone else leading Celtic into the Champions League qualifiers. It was the right time for him to go.

“I don’t think we’ve seen my team the last three or four months. That’s been hard for me to watch. I can live with a loss or two but I can’t live with bad performances – that’s what kills me. I’m a developer, I’m not a result or a trophy fighter. I want that. But that alone doesn’t make me happy. I want to be happy creating something and developing something, if that happens then I’m happy.

“If that’s not happening then I don’t get the energy I need. That’s why I feel now I is right for others to come on. At clubs like this it’s not easy to talk about development because you play every three days.”

It seems unlikely that Celtic will plump for another experimental, “project” manager when the time comes to anoint Deila’s successor. The Norwegian felt it would be a mistake, however, to focus solely on short-term success.

“If they do that then I think they will not win the trophies,” he added. “You need to develop, you need to be ahead of things all the time. That’s why Celtic are here because they have a lot of good footballers. Neil Lennon developed something and now I have. But the gap between us and the other teams is getting smaller. I think it was 27 points, then 17 and now I’m not sure what it will be.

“But, again, you can’t just think purely of the result, as important as that is. The manager must always also look at the performances and strive to improve them. Then the results will come.”