ADVENTURE is just bad planning.

It is a maxim to which all Norwegians harbouring an ambition to stamp their mark on fresh territory - and there have been many from the Vikings onwards - would be expected to subscribe.

Roald Amundsen, undoubted winner of the race to the South Pole and, arguably, the first man to reach its northern equivalent, coined the quote and lived by its message.

Ronny Deila will have studied, perhaps even taught, the famous story of how Amundsen's fastidious preparation saw him plant their country's flag at 90 Degrees South over a month before the doomed Captain Robert Falcon Scott arrived by a far more circuituous route bearing England's colours.

Making it to the South Pole before anyone else was the be-all and end-all of Amundsen's journey. He had no intention of stopping to admire the views. He used sledge dogs rather than Siberian ponies, found a way to take a more direct route over unknown terrain, had a smaller, better co-ordinated team and got his food and nutrition strategy right.

After all that bother over chips being banned at the training ground and his own Captain Scott inhaling takeaway pizza while sprawled on an Edinburgh pavement, that is one element of strategy that Deila has already fought his battles over as he prepares to embark upon an epic journey of his own.

Deila now needs to exhibit a similarly linear approach to reaching a desired end destination as directly and efficiently as possible while retaining his essential openness to new ideas. The thrill and wonder - the adventure, if you like - of landing at a world-renowned club is past history. It is business only now.

Celtic may not have the funds or the players of old, but they have to find a way to overcome the obstacles standing between them and the rarefied world of the Champions League. Deila must, even with the current campaign still three fixtures from its end, begin work on constructing a team capable of enduring what will be an arduous trek.

Making it to the group stage has to be the primary objective next term. John Collins, the assistant manager, has already said as much and offered encouraging words over the level of forward planning in progress.

Just doing enough to stay dominant in Scotland is not sufficient. Given the current climate, Deila is nothing, in the grand scheme of things, without a certain degree of success in UEFA competition.

Even if Rangers do make it back to the top flight, which looks unlikely, the club has to foster greater aspiration than merely remaining the biggest fish in a largely stagnant pool.

Let it be said that Deila's first season in Glasgow has gone relatively well. The league championship and League Cup are in the cabinet and, were it not for Meekingsgate and all that, he might still have had a chance of becoming only the third Celtic manager to complete a domestic treble.

What is perhaps more important is that, after some very obvious teething troubles, he appears to have won over the supporters and his dressing-room too.

The fans were easy meat, in the end. The players possibly took a little longer.

The old story of Paul Le Guen and his demise at the hands of Barry Ferguson and the Monster Munch brigade at Rangers shows that a coach from overseas, no matter his reputation, can easily be brought down from within.

Changing dietary habits created headlines and friction. Deila also demanded tactical alterations, moving away from 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1. It took time to garner support, but the winter signings of Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven continued to reshape the squad into one which contains players suited to that formation.

Deila has also made a habit of defending his players. He dealt with Scott Brown being photographed at the end of a night out in one of the capital's less salubrious quarters with intelligence. His public backing for Aleksander Tonev, found guilty of racially abusing Shay Logan of Aberdeen, was less wise, but will have done him no harm inside the camp.

Steering a happy ship towards domestic trophies is not enough, though. Anything less than retaining the title, after all, would have been a sackable offence with the one major blot on Deila's copybook remaining the unequivocal shambles that was the Champions League qualifying campaign.

In fairness, he did not have much time to plan properly. He was still trying to get his feet under the table, win the respect of a dressing-room loyal to Neil Lennon and put his philosophy across. He should bear only a percentage of the blame for what unfolded, humiliating as it was.

Losing 6-1 on aggregate to Legia Warsaw was bad enough. When UEFA punished the Poles for fielding an ineligible player and allowed Celtic to face a final qualifier with Maribor of Slovenia, it was a dream outcome that rapidly descended into Deila's worst nightmare.

Of course, not everyone gets it right first time. Even Amundsen had to cancel his first crack at the South Pole in 1911 and return to camp for a month until the temperatures improved a little.

Deila has to show himself capable of doing considerably better next time, though, with clear signs of progress evident the way his players went toe-to-toe with Internazionale, albeit a very poor version of the Italian club, in the last 32 of the Europa League in February before losing 4-3 on aggregate.

Almost a year on from his appointment, Celtic looks more like the club Deila would have envisaged, but clear issues remain. Jason Denayer is returning to Manchester City and Virgil van Dijk is likely to move elsewhere, meaning a new defence will have to be constructed.

Opening talks with 22-year-old Mitchell Dijks of Willem II, a player capable of operating at left-back and in the centre, seems a positive start. Others such as Danny Wilson of Hearts are being monitored.

Deila's midfield looks fairly strong, but there is sure to be summer interest in Stefan Johansen. Keeping his drive and invention at Parkhead is crucial. Getting rid of John Guidetti and bringing in a striker possessing greater quality than those already in the fold equally so.

The £2.3m purchase of Stefan Scepovic from Sporting Gijon last summer remains quite unfathomable with the loan arrivals of Wakaso Mubarak, Jo Inge Berget and Tonev similarly underwhelming.

Deila has to show he can work the market to greater effect while adhering to Celtic's long-term policy of buying low and selling high. He already seems to accept the futility of spending too long revelling in the finer moments of his debut season where there are future courses to be plotted into a much more testing environment.

This 39-year-old's legacy remains very much in the making, a point summed up, perhaps, in the lasting words of Thor Heyerdahl, another great Norwegian explorer famed for his voyage from Peru to French Polynesia in the wooden raft, Kon-Tiki.

For every minute, the future is becoming the past.