TheCable

It didn’t take long for Efe Ambrose’s team, Scottish champions, Celtic, to replace the departed Neil Lennon with Norwegian Ronny Deila, as the new man in the hot seat.

The 38-year-old joins Celtic from Stromsgodset IF in Norway, where he led the club to national cup glory and to the Norwegian Premier League title last season, the first time the club won the league championship in 42 years.

In Norway, they call him “Super Ronny”, but when news of his prime candidacy for the Celtic manager’s job reached Scotland yesterday, the initial reaction was “Ronny Who?”

It’s fair to say that, even among the most avid students of European football, Ronny Deila is something of an unknown quantity.

But so was Arsene Wenger when he arrived in England from Japan for the Arsenal job.

“It is a magnificent honour to be named the new manager of Celtic, one of the world’s great football clubs and a club I have such enormous respect for,” he told the club’s official website.

“I will treasure this opportunity and will give everything I have to achieve success for Celtic and our wonderful fans. I know what I want for Celtic and our supporters and that is the best of everything, it is what our fans deserve.

“I want to deliver the best attacking, exciting and entertaining football we can play, for the players to give their best every time they take to the field of and, of course.

I want my players to work with me to achieve the best results possible and bring trophies to Celtic. Celtic is in great shape and the club has enjoyed real success in recent years due to the hard work of Neil and his team.”

Deila was capped nine times for the Norwegian under-17 side and then made two appearances for the under-21s in 1996, both of them on a tour of the USA, but never represented his country at senior level.