It was a stretch of land that was swept away in the name of progress more than two decades ago but the law of the jungle still prevails at Celtic Park it seems.

 

On the face of it Ronnie Deila was generous yesterday when invited to discuss those in his squad who have been paid hefty wages while contributing little on the field of play, but there was also a ruthlessness to his message as he acknowledged the need for changes to the current set-up that must be brought about to create the environment in which players will best thrive.

"We will always have that same issue here, because you will say 'Ok he is on the bench, he is not performing,' so if you don't have competition in Celtic then we don't want to be a good team. It's tough to break through here," he said.

"All the players are good, high level and then it's the survival of the fittest, who performs best and then we have to help everybody to try to get out the potential and if you win the treble then they have done their part as well.

"Even though they haven't played so much they have been in training every day, being positive, trying to build each other, be together with the group."

If those words may offer some consolation to the likes of Aleksandar Tonev, Mubarak Wakaso, Stefan Skepovic and Derk Boerrigter, in the context of how their contribution is valued when this season is seen in isolation, there was little for them in the longer term as Deila explained why he is determined to pare his squad down.

Part of the reason is the difficulty of maintaining harmony when players are not getting the game time they crave and in illustrating that he wryly recalled how things had got a bit tense between him and then Viking Stavangar boss Roy Hodgson a decade or so ago on a rare occasion in his own career when he found himself benched.

"It's hard for them as well and for me it's very hard," Deila said of regularly having to leavce players on the sidelines.

"Eleven players can start the game. I want to have 18 to start because you want them to do well, everybody, but that's how football is, so in the end it's about motivation, it's about connection and it's about performances.

"Also you have to build for the future. If we have 28 players who are good, aged from 22 to 31, then they expect to play and there's no room for an 18, 19, 20-year-old boy. So if we can get that down to 21/21 then 22 to 26 will be youngsters and they will train with the first team every time and will get their opportunities when we have some injuries or suspension or they do very well and get into the team."

The process of dealing with that has to be addressed on a case by case basis with Deila noting that those on loan, such as Tonev and Wakaso, are relatively straightforward compared with those on longer-term deals.

"That makes it very easy for us," he said.

"The players with longer contracts, then everybody is under evaluation all the time and we have to try to make the best out of our players, that's my task together with the staff.

"It's also about how they perform and what opportunities there are. What we want is to get a smaller squad. We don't want it as big as it has been this year and we will see how we can cope with that with the time until the first of September."

As to specifics he claimed to be unaware of links with Diego Reyes, the Mexican central defender who is currently at Porto, while he made it clear that in the case of John Guidetti, who has been targeted by Feyenoord, the ball is in the player's court.

"He (Guidetti) has to come back and say that he wants to play for Celtic and then we can sit down and talk about it. If not then he will go away," Deila said simply.

"We have done everything we can do and he wanted to wait. I speak with him regularly but we will have to wait and see what happens."

As to whether Guidetti could be the striker Celtic supporters are longing to see become a regular on the scoresheet, Deila expressed a negotiator's caution in his analysis.

"He is getting better," said the manager.

"The last period he has been better and we are starting to see what he had at the start of the season."

With good reason he was decidedly less equivocal in his analysis of their fellow Scandinavian Stefan Johansen, given the consistency of his play and the way he sets about his business.

"We want to keep him for a long period," Deila said emphatically.

"He has the values we are looking for, he has the skills we are looking for, he is happy here and we are happy with him, so that is something we hopefully can do.

"We would rather extend his contract than sell him. We have some young, good players and Stefan is one of them. We want consistency in our team and he is one of those we really want to keep."

All of which offers insight into the potential distractions that present themselves at a time of year when the manager would surely prefer to have his full focus on the pursuit of trophies.

A treble this season may represent a glorious achievement, but if the club is to establish itself as any sort of force beyond the domestic arena Deila needs to make hard decisions even as he seeks to maintain morale among those currently on the books.