If it wasn't for the fact that Ronny Deila is 39-years-old, you could be forgiven for thinking he was just an excited wee bairn eagerly awaiting Santa's annual tumble down the lum.
"Every game is like Christmas," said the Celtic manager with an enthusiastic grin ahead of the hectic festive programme. "Everything is new. My motivation is so high I just have to stagger myself so I don't want too much. I am always holding back because you need to take it step by step and save your energy throughout the long season."
His players may be ready for a break but it seems that Deila will just keep on going like a Duracell Bunny that's guzzled a few cans of energy juice. "I've not had a break since March," added the Norwegian, who would usually spend the Christmas period relaxing at his apartment in Brazil. "But I don't feel tired. I feel very good."
The non-stop nature of football has ensured that Deila has barely had time to draw breath since he took up the managerial reins at Celtic. As his players went through their paces at the club's Lennoxtown complex yesterday, ahead of Sunday's Scottish Premiership tussle with Dundee United at Tannadice, the man in charge must have been thinking 'this is more like it'. The training ground is where he loves to be. It's his domain where he can impart his wisdom and his philosophies but, since joining the Glasgow club in the summer, the luxury of any clear weeks in the calendar have been few and far between. Indeed, this week has been one of the rare occasions where he could work with his players for a sustained period of time. Leagues games, cup games, European ties or international matches? They all play havoc with the schedule.
"It is the first time since July or August since we've been able to train three days in a row," said Deila, who has also been casting an eye over Everton trialist Francisco Junior in training this week. "It's been a good three days. We need more of this. This is what the job is about for me. It is hard to get the message across normally, so I have very much appreciated the opportunity this week. It's getting there. Everything is a bit slower than what it would be if we would be able to train the team three days in a row every week, like I'm used to. I think everybody is understanding more where we want to go, and that excites me. I see so much potential. It's little by little. We'll go more and more together. We're working on the right things. There's a good attitude in the group, a good mood. That makes it so much better. It's evolution not revolution. It's not like I'm going to be able to show them in two training sessions everything in the world that I know and what I can do. We have to take small steps all the time."
Deila has experienced the inevitable ups-and-downs that come during a period of transition but, at the halfway point of his first season in charge, he is more than happy with the progress being made. Failure to make the European Champions League was a sore one to take but with his team six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, and still in three cup competitions at home and an in Europe, there is plenty to shoot for. The 6-1 demolition Celtic doled out to Dundee United the last time the two sides met at Parkhead in August had Deila cooing like a pigeon on a hot stove. You'll not get results like that every week but those are the clinical standards he wants to see.
"If you go through the goal chances that day (against Dundee United) we had eight and we scored six so we were very effective," he noted. "The last four, five, six games we've had 10 to 15 chances in every game. We've improved although we haven't been as effective as we were in that United game.
"We have gone through six months with some good games and some bad games but I'm very happy with where we are. In the transition we will go up and down. The worst thing of being a football manager is to let people down. That's why it is so hard because you really want to make people happy."
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