Ronny Deila reveals why he decided to leave Celtic

Not many Celtic fans will remember Ronny Deila’s time as Celtic manager fondly even though the Hoops did end up winning back-to-back Premiership titles under the Norwegian manager and a League Cup as well. But overall, his time in the Parkhead hot seat was not considered as a success and it is hard not to feel that he underachieved, considering what was to come under his successor, Brendan Rodgers.

There were quite a few important things that happened at Celtic during Deila’s two-year stint at the club though and there were many positives as well.

But ultimately, Deila would step down from his role at the end of the 2015/16 season. And in many ways, his run as the Celtic manager will perhaps always be defined by a Scottish Cup semi-final defeat at the hands of the Rangers, who were in the Championship at that point of time.

While speaking about his Celtic exit on Graham Spiers’ Press Box Podcast and as reported by 67 Hail Hail, Deila said:

"“If the team doesn’t go forward then I will stay away from the club. I am about progress – developing players, developing teams. I felt we had a lot of improvement in the year 2014/15. We lost a lot of the good players [in 2015/16]. I do not think our signings were good enough – I’m responsible for that as well.“We of course didn’t invest nowhere near the money that was going when Brendan Rodgers came in. So we didn’t have that same money that other managers had. But I felt then that I didn’t take the team further. We had too many average players. In the end the pressure on me as a person was so hard and I think it affected the whole club and also the players a lot.”"

Deila opens up about his Celtic exit despite back-to-back Premiership titles

Ultimately, it has worked out for Deila following his Celtic exit. He is currently the manager of New York City FC, who he led to the MLS Cup last year.

On the other hand, Celtic would go on to replace Deila with Rodgers, under whom they would go on to become one of the greatest teams in the history of the Scottish game, and also transformed into a Treble-winning machine, that would dominate every domestic competition for four straight years.

Rodgers would leave the club under controversial circumstances himself, departing in the middle of the season in order to join Leicester City. And as a result, he is not remembered as fondly by the fans as he should be for his achievements, and understandably so.