THE Scottish club with the Irish soul now has a new nationality to embrace.

Celtic were last night celebrating lifting the league trophy for a fourth successive season and giving thanks to the two Norwegians who played critical roles in making it happen. In bars all across Glasgow and beyond, they would have been raising a glass to Ronny Deila and Stefan Johansen for all their endeavours over the past year.

It has been quite the maiden managerial campaign for Deila at Celtic. A relative unknown when he was appointed Neil Lennon's successor last June, the former Stromsgodset manager has had to endure a few bumps along the road. Failing to capitalise on a Champions League reprieve to again not make the group stage was an early setback, while league results in the opening few months were also patchy. Deila, though, has demonstrated his mettle by bouncing back from those setbacks, adapting to his surroundings and gradually winning more people over to his way of thinking. His reward is a first Scottish title and League Cup, and a chance in July of another crack at the Champions League qualifiers.

His success has not gone unnoticed back in his homeland. Highly thought of for guiding Stromsgodset from relegation strugglers to league champions, a whole raft of Norwegians have found themselves rooting for Celtic this season, desperate for Deila to do well. Several of his compatriots, including Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, have graduated from successful playing careers in Britain without finding anywhere near the same level of success in the dug-out. As he held aloft the SPFL Premiership trophy yesterday, Deila did so as only the third Norwegian manager to win a league title outside of Scandinavia. For that reason alone, he can be considered a success.

Jan Aage Fjortoft surveys the scene with pride. A former Norwegian international who spent many an hour with Deila in television studios fulfilling their duties as football pundits, Fjortoft was happy to stick his neck out last June and confidently predict that his friend had the necessary tools - both as a manager and as a person - to succeed overseas. It gives him immense pleasure to be proven correct.

"When people go abroad either as a player or a coach they need to have a cultural intelligence," he told Herald Sport. "You have to understand the people, how they think, how they speak, as well as the culture of a club and of a country. I always knew that Ronny had those qualities. I was fortunate enough to work with him in the TV studios - and also knew him from his football career - and saw how he developed as a coach. So I hoped and expected he would succeed at Celtic.

"He has shown respect for his surroundings. He hasn't tried to Norwegian-ise Celtic with his ideas. He's tried to bring in his way of thinking and combine it with what was already there. And that's important.

"He's had to recover from some difficult times like in the Champions League but he knew it was not always going to be easy. He had only been there a short period of time so this wasn't a product of his mis-management. It was just the status of the team at that moment. And Ronny took it from there and learned from it."

Celtic's victory over Aberdeen at Pittodrie in early November is seen by many as a turning point for both Deila and the team, the manager celebrating Virgil van Dijk's late winner with the now-familiar Ronny Roar in front of the large travelling support. It was the first real public display of emotion from the previously passive Norwegian but Fjortoft painted Deila as a man whose enthusiasm for the game could not be contained.

"Ronny is a football man. Sometimes that is a cliché but he is passionate about the game. He won't see being manager of Celtic as just his job, he will see it almost as a way of life. He is fully committed to doing things the right way and will work seven days a week to make that happen."

By coincidence or otherwise, Deila's best player this season has been another Norwegian. There was additional pressure on Johansen to prove his worth to dismiss any suggestions that he was merely in the team because he knew the manager. The midfielder did that and more, demonstrating his versatility by putting in accomplished performances in a number of positions.

Norway lie in third place in their qualifying group for Euro 2016, with a must-win home tie against Azerbaijan approaching next month. Fjortoft confirmed Johansen is now as vital a figure for his country as he is for his club.

"I have followed Stefan over the years and he has progressed a lot," he added. "He was part of the under-21 national team that finished third in the European Championships two years ago and many of that group are now playing regularly in the full team.

"Stefan, more and more, is growing regularly into the role of a leader and I think one day he will captain our country. He leads by example and through his love for football. He has a mature head on his shoulders. The last time we met he asked if he could do more courses as he wants to learn more about football. I think that's excellent in these times when sometimes footballers get a bad reputation for not being 100 percent committed to the game. So, in a good way, Ronny and Stefan truly deserve each other. Celtic are fortunate to have both."