APART from sitting on a bar stool in some sunny foreign clime downing a few chilled cervezas, Ronny Deila has no idea what the future holds for him when he departs Celtic later this month.
However, the Norwegian, whose side will finally retain the Ladbrokes Premiership if they draw with or defeat nearest rivals Aberdeen at Parkhead tomorrow, is certain about one thing.
No matter what club and what country he turns up at next, the demands and expectation upon him will be nowhere near as great as they have been in Glasgow during the last two years.
Deila was this week strongly linked with a move to Brondby by various media outlets in Denmark – speculation which the 40-year-old claimed he has no knowledge of.
“I don’t know anything about that,” he said. “It is rumours. It can only be a lot of rumours now. What I know now is there are three games left at Celtic, then I am going to have a vacation.”
The former Stromsgodset manager, though, admitted that he was keen to secure alternative employment quickly and put the lessons which he has learned in this country to immediate use.
“I am hungry for working,” he said. “I have learned a lot here and have gained a lot of experience and I want to stay abroad. I have done everything in Norway. I have been abroad and I want to stay abroad.
“But now it will be good to have some time off and then we will see when we start again. If the job is right I can start at once, if it isn’t right I will have a good time in Marbella. It depends what kind of job.
“It is hard to say where I will go. There are so many coincidences in football. The most important thing for me is that I suit the style of the organisation and how they run things. I will take with me the wisdom that I have gained here.
“But it is going to be difficult to get as high pressure a job as I had here. It would have to be a very, very good football team. I don’t think there are a lot of clubs in the Premier League which have that pressure. I think you have to go to the top six or seven teams to get that.”
The presence of Scott Brown has been instrumental to the success – he has won the League Cup and is poised to win his second consecutive Premiership - which Deila has enjoyed in this country.
There has been speculation about a less than cordial relationship between the two men, but the manager lavished praise on his captain yesterday.
Brown has been given the last three games of the 2015/16 campaign off so he is rested and full fit when the Champions League qualifiers get underway early next season and Deila is hopeful that will help Celtic to secure a place in the lucrative group stages.
“He has been a very good captain,” he said. “He has a lot of experience. He has always given 100 per cent. He is that kind of player, he will go through everything to get a result and get a scoreline. He has been a leader on the pitch and in training.
“He is a very good trainer. He has been very important for me. It is 99.99999 per cent sure that we are going to win the league. Now is the time to make everything right so Celtic can have good preparation into the Champions League so it is good that Broonie can get some time off.”
Deila secured the services of Patrick Roberts from Manchester City on loan for a season and a half back in January and the £12 million winger has impressed greatly since.
Roberts was yesterday named as the Ladbrokes Player of the Month for April – despite missing a sitter in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers at Hampden.
“I played every game in April and there was only one disappointing game for me so to receive this award was great,” said Roberts.
“Missing chances is part and parcel of football. You can’t get down about it. You just have to make sure you put it in the back of the net the next time. Everyone knew it was a bad miss but it is just one we need to take on the chin.”
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