Scottish Premier League News October 2014: Ronny Deila diffuses rift with Neil Lennon
Lisa Dillon
Celtic
Ronny Deila has sought to defuse a perceived rift with Neil Lennon by insisting there is no issue with the squad that he inherited from the Northern Irishman.
The Norwegian has ordered his squad to eat lunch together at Lennoxtown, has imposed a ban on fizzy drinks and has ordered his players to reduce their body fat.
Such changes were immediately pounced on and perceived as a slight on the previous regime - with Lennon hitting back on a radio interview over the weekend.
Without mentioning the new Hoops boss by name, Lennon stated: "All you hear now is that you need to ban chips, tomato sauce, fizzy drinks. Yeah, because that makes them better players.
"It's disrespectful when a new manager comes in and immediately says: "The players aren't fit enough."
Deila, however, was quick to try and smooth the waters, insisting that he had nothing but respect for the job Lennon done before him.
"I inherited a champion team so I never said anything to make that performance bad," he stated. "What I meant is you get in some new players and you also have players who have been out injured, had surgeries and come back again - there is always room for improvements.
"As he says as well, there are different ways to look at things and, for me, we still have a job to do to get the players fitter. That's nothing about what has gone here before because that was great, he did fantastically well and I think I have been respectful all the time. I'm a big fan of what he has done before."
Deila himself has found that life in the Celtic hotseat is not as easy as it appears, even with Rangers still in a league below. While few would realistically expect Celtic to fail in their quest to retain the title, it has been a stuttering start to his tenure.
The Norwegian failed to take the club into the UEFA Champions League and instead had to settle for a Europa League place, while there has been a lack of consistency to the team domestically.
However, Hoops captain Scott Brown has defended the constant tinkering that the new manager has been guilty of.
Deila admitted on Monday that he had made too many changes too often and that he would now prefer to have a more settled line-up. But Brown believes that the Norwegian had no option but to experiment with his squad in order to discern which players were able to cope with the demands of playing for the champions.
Deila has used 30 players in his 13 matches in charge and, unsurprisingly, performances have been uneven. Brown, though, is convinced that Deila has taken the right steps to assess the strengths and weaknesses of his players.
"It's a new manager and he needs to see the faces of the players and he needs to know what they're like under pressure at home and away from home and how they deal with that," Brown said.
"Eventually, the gaffer will pick a strong team and stick with it. He might chop and change occasionally because it's going to be a long, hard season but you have a squad for a reason and it's got to be used.
"You can't just judge players on training. It's a different aspect all together. I could be Maradona at training but bricking myself in front of 60,000 people.
"It's about how you cope with fans booing you or applauding you, fans getting on your back and stuff like that. If you can take it at this club then you will make it at this club.
"The manager has also brought in new players and we're sticking with his 4-2-3-1 formation. We've got the wingers and the new strikers in now so it should all settle down once the gaffer knows what his team is going to be.
"But the squad will be utilised and players need to be happy and involved."
Rangers
Rangers boss Ally McCoist has revealed that he was relieved to have avoided an impeding Old Firm clash in the forthcoming League Cup quarter-final - because he reckons the hype would have disrupted his team's focus in their quest for Championship points.
The stage was set for what would have been the first Celtic-Rangers game in two-and-a-half years when the last-eight draw was made, but instead Rangers were paired with St Johnstone at Ibrox next month while Ronny Deila's men were handed a Glasgow derby with Partick Thistle at Parkhead.
McCoist, for his part, declared himself happy that a clash between the two didn't come to pass, fearing that a month of frenzied anticipation in the build-up to the match would have distracted his players from the challenge of overhauling Hearts at the top of the league.
"We certainly weren't pining for an Old Firm game although we would have taken whoever the cup draw gave us"' said McCoist.
"It's going to be a tough game against St Johnstone. But it's one which can hopefully be put on the back burner a little bit.
"We'll certainly be doing that because we've got some tough league games to concentrate on before we concentrate our thoughts on the League Cup again.
"We said if we could get a home tie we would take it and we've got that against a side which, on its day, is capable of giving anybody a game.
"St Johnstone are a really solid, hard-working team, who ended up winning the Scottish Cup quite comfortably last season.
"As much as we're pleased with the draw, we're certainly not underestimating the task ahead of us."
Off the park, meanwhile, the problems continue, with Rangers supporters groups calling on Ibrox power broker Sandy Easdale to provide assurances that he will do nothing to veto Dave King's attempts to invest in the club.
Discussions have taken place on how to facilitate an injection of cash by the South African-based businessman via a fresh share issue later this year.
King has had no direct overtures from the Rangers board and denies giving anyone a mandate to speak on his behalf, saying: "I have no representatives and, as before, any discussions I have had or will have remain confidential. I will only announce or comment on a certain outcome if I get to that point."
The Glasgow-born executive chairman of MicroMega Holdings was not eligible to participate in the most recent £3million share issue. But he has repeatedly said he wishes to take part in a larger scale cash-raising exercise later this year.
King made a verbal, public offer to invest a sum in the region of £30m in the summer, but has since retreated from the public limelight.
Rangers sources say Wallace attended Tuesday's meeting to consider ways in which King's wish to assist might be accommodated. Significantly, however, Sandy Easdale was not present.
And, amidst rumours of a rift between Easdale and Wallace over King's projected involvement, the Union of Fans have expressed fears the Greenock bus tycoon will use his 5.21 per cent stake - plus his voting rights over a further 20.49 per cent - to retain his own powerbase.
"Mr Easdale and his associates have invested just enough to keep them above the 25-per-cent mark required to hold a veto over any inward investment to the club via a further, more substantial, share offer," said a UoF statement.
"Despite owning only around 5 per cent of the club himself, Sandy Easdale claims to hold proxy voting rights for around 26 per cent. We have long been concerned that Mr Easdale refuses to disclose who he actually holds these proxies for and instead disguises them through Beaufort Nominees.
"We would ask Mr Easdale to confirm publicly that he and his associates will not oppose any resolution at the upcoming AGM which would allow fresh investment from those who care about the future of our club.
"If Mr Easdale ignores this request or refuses to answer unequivocally then, in the near future, we will recommend what course of action we believe fans should take.
Scotland
Glasgow securing its place as one of Euro 2020's host venues could see more than £20million pumped into Scotland's economy.
Hampden Park was last week chosen by UEFA as one of the 13 host stadiums for the Finals.
It is understood that as well bringing cash into Scottish football it will see around £20m flood into the country as a whole.
Scotland's most talented young players will emerge from the SFA Performance Schools in the same year and Stewart Regan insists Euro 2020 will give our kids something to aspire to.
The SFA chief said: "Given the improvement under Gordon Strachan, we have to be optimistic we won't just be throwing a big Euro 2020 party but will actually be part of it on the pitch."
UEFA is staging the tournament in 13 cities across Europe to mark the 60th anniversary of the first European Championships.
Regan said the decision to award Glasgow was a fitting tribute to one of his predecessors, David Taylor, who died aged just 60 in June.
He said: "Everyone saw what Glasgow was capable of with the Commonwealth Games, and that really put Glasgow on the map. It was a huge factor and we used that in our film.
"Sir Alex Ferguson came in last week with a video in support of our bid and spoke passionately about it, and I am sure that must have helped.
"We knew we had a strong bid. We focused on the fact this is the 60th anniversary and we focused on the history and heritage of football. We knew Michel Platini was a football man and that's what we played strongest on and that's why we used Alex Ferguson.
"It was football that has won the day. This is a tournament about 60 years of European football, we have had some of the most famous matches in European football at Hampden Park and we played heavily on that in our video and in our submission.
"Scotland is the perfect stage for major events and hosting four matches in Glasgow will also provide substantial economic benefits. We will continue to work closely with the Scottish FA and Glasgow City Council to help put on a spectacular football tournament."
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