Ronny Deila’s interesting revelation about how he got Celtic job

Former Celtic manager, Ronny Deila, has revealed how he got the Parkhead job. And it is certainly interesting considering some of the rumours that surrounded Parkhead in the summer. It also sheds some light on the connection that the club have had with Manchester City for quite a while as well.

Georgios Samaras, Olivier Ntcham, Patrick Roberts and Jeremie Frimpong are just a few players who have made the move from Manchester City to Celtic in recent times.

While Peter Lawwell has moved on from Celtic, his son, Mark, remains the Head of CFG Scouting and Recruitment at City Football Group.

And now Delia has revealed how Fergal Harkin played a role in his appointment as Celtic manager back in 2014. While talking on Graham Spiers’ Press Box Podcast, and as reported by the Glasgow Times, the current New York City FC manager revealed:

"“I received a phone call from my friend Fergal Harkin who said Celtic could be interested and that Peter (Lawwell) wanted to meet me.”"

He further revealed that the original plan was to place him as assistant manager at Parkhead in order get some experience in the role before he would potentially be made the manager of the club further down the line if things went well:

"“After a week off I was then told that the majority shareholder Dermot Desmond wanted to meet me in London about coming in as the assistant manager.“The idea was that I would start as the assistant, and I would get to understand Celtic and the language a bit more.“Then if the manager who I was working with did well I would then become the manager.”"

Deila reveals how he got Celtic job and Harkin had a role to play

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Deila’s revelation is the role that Harkin played in his appointment. He is the loan and pathways manager at City Football Group and was himself linked with Celtic over the summer with regards to potentially becoming the club’s director of football. It ultimately did not end up materialising though.

When it comes to Deila’s career at Celtic, one has to wonder what might have been, as he could have ended up winning a treble with the club if he had luck on his side and things had gone a bit differently.

It has been a while though. The Ange Postecoglou era is now upon us at Parkhead and looking very promising so far. The director of football situation remains unresolved though and it remains to be seen if the Harkin rumours emerge in the future once again.