09 Oct 2014 09:58:54
I posted yestrday that we should all get behind Delia, despite our own misgivings, as he is manager of Celtic Football Club and us the fans must back him while he is in the job.
But I heard Frank Macavennie say that he was told by officials at the club that Ronnie had gone on a 7 day holiday to Marbella, yes I am aware a few of the players are away on international duty, but surely he should be using this time to work out his future strategy for the club. I also heard Delia himself say at the previous international break a month ago, "he needed a break as it was hectic" so he has had 2 holidays in 2 months, I am worried he cannot cope with the stress of managing Celtic and think the stress will only get worse in coming weeks and months.

1.) 09 Oct 2014
If he's been on two holidays in two months then that is a bit of a joke. I only get two holidays a year, and my job isn't that hectic!

2.) 09 Oct 2014
Maybe he's looking for another job?
I know a lot of the players are away, but there must be work he could be doing with the other players - especially those constantly injured and look at ways of getting our season on track. I can see very little progress (if any) in the teams performances and results and if things carry on he will be on a long 'holiday' again before Christmas -

{Ed007's Note - What do you expect him to do with injured players, he's not a physiotherapist or doctor? A lot of players take a few days during international breaks to visit family or have a few days in the sun if they aren't on international duty, other players will go in and work by themselves in the gym or with specific coaches etc and everyone is given a date to return by.
If RD had came out and said he wanted players who weren't on international duty to report for training as normal he would have been slaughtered for not letting them rest or relax and how he is infatuated with fitness blah blah.. no matter what he does he can't win with some people.}

3.) 09 Oct 2014
Managers need time off as well you know.

4.) 09 Oct 2014
Here's hoping after a nice couple of days in the sun he comes to his senses and realises he should be playing 2 strikers up front in domestic matches. Trying to implement a system with continuity between Europe and domestic matches won't work in a league of such low quality where no team other than ourself make any impact in Europe.

{Ed007's Note - Yet it works for every other club, no matter what league they're in.}

5.) 09 Oct 2014
I don't have a problem with him having a few days off if there is nothing for him to do, but I think it would be helpful to the club, the fans and ultimately himself if he took his laptop with him and logged onto this site just so he can get a wee idea as to the depth of feeling amoungst celtic fans regarding what's going on at the moment, because I really don't think he has any idea about the depths of passion Celtic fans have for this club. He might even pick up a few things tactically and personnel wise as there seems to be more sense spoken on here than he seems to be spouting the noo! (Well in the main lol) Markiebhoy

6.) 09 Oct 2014
09 Oct 2014 18:04:14
Hes only in the door five minutes , I think there's a lot @ the club he could be doing,rather than suning himself in Marbella, stressed don't make me laugh, mayb if he stopped talking shite in every interview he wouldn't b Under so much pressure.

{Ed007's Note - So tell us what you think he could he be doing then?}

7.) 09 Oct 2014
09 Oct 2014 18:55:26
Maybe working with the fringe players,youngsters, what bout watching some of ar international players, maybe watch all ar games to date, there's plenty of nightmare performances to be studied, take a few classes on how to talk/ deal wi the media, certainly not getting a sun tan.

{Ed007's Note - It's not his job to work with reserves and young players, that's why we have coaches at the club with specific roles, and how do you know he isn't going to watch a game, he can fly in anywhere on the day of the game, should he be telling everyone what he's doing on an hour by hour basis, maybe we could tag him and follow him on the internet? Does he need to be at Lennoxtown or CP to watch DVDs of our games or work on his own plans, I'd have said he could do all that on a laptop. Why does he need classes to deal with the media, because you don't like what he's saying or because he is being truthful and honest when he talks to them? Being media-friendly is not part of any manager's job description, watching NL should have shown you that, he quite rightly had no time for the press, look at the way Gordon Strachan has spoke to them for years, should they have went on this course you speak of? What had RD done wrong in any his dealings with the press so far?}

8.) 09 Oct 2014
09 Oct 2014 18:23:11
ED007 on the subject of injured players, is there any news on when Lustig, Mathews and Forrest can return.
Also did Boerighter go out on loan or is he injured again also?

{Ed007's Note - Lustig and Matthews should be about ready once the international break is over, Boerriggter is still a long term injury as far as I know and Forrest's groin injury is still healing. That was what I was told last weekend so things might have changed.}

9.) 09 Oct 2014
09 Oct 2014 19:58:12
So he hasn't contradicted himself in any interviews, talks about progress,it's not on the footballing side, all this talk about changing the football philosophy and diets is all a smoke screen, he should never have got the job in the first place, but that's life, if he is in the sun, good luck, he will need it when he gets back,

{Ed007's Note - Do you know what a smokescreen is? You think he's lying that he is trying to change things, are you serious? So what are his real intentions if his talk of change is a smokescreen? Some supporters are talking more about player's diets than RD ever has, their infatuation with it only shows their lack of understanding it or they would have been saying it's about time we modernised our set-up, only in Scotland do people get chastised for trying to improve things.
If you don't think he should never have got the job that's hardly RD's fault, see Pedro about it, that'll be the last 3 managerial appointments he's ballsed up, our trophy haul since 2009 should be much higher and it's an embarrassment it isn't, do you think 5 trophies out of 15, considering Rangers demise, is acceptable?
It's not just Deila that has said about fitness at the club, how many players went on loan only for their new manager to mention how unfit they were, McGregor had to do a whole new pre-season at Notts County, Norwich told Gary Hooper he would need to train more and lose weight even Southampton thought Wanyama would have been fitter than he was hence his fitness and stamina levels needed work.
Have a read at Vider Riseth's opinion on it, would you rather our players were as fit as a Ronaldo or a John Hartson?
Riseth played football until he was 38, John Hartson left CFC and blew it out his ar$e until he retired at 32, whose lifestyle would you recommend to a young player at 16/17?

.Barça bring their chef with them to London.

Real Madrid given food for thought.

A Soccer Player's Diet

Soccer Player's Guide to Nutrition

I suppose John Hartson knows better though, or maybe every other FA and club in the world are in on it and are helping RD with his smokescreen.}

10.) 09 Oct 2014
I think you've hit the nail on the head Ed, for years the fans have been crying out for a manager who is honest & tells it like it is, now that Ronny is here & doing exactly that, the fans are giving him a hard time for it! The guy can't win whatever he says or does! It's becoming blatantly obvious that there is an element of the support who are not willing to give RD the benefit of the doubt or the time needed to turn things around. It's becoming a joke the way fans (everywhere) are demanding the head of every manager the minute things get a bit rough, it needs to stop as it's becoming a cancer in the modern game!

{Ed007's Note - Spot on, I have no doubt there are supporters who want RD to fail just so they can say 'I told you so'. I'm just waiting on the 'Celtic minded' p1sh to start (puke)

11.) 09 Oct 2014
I will give him some credit if or when he deserves it, but at the moment I have seen very little in the way of:- entertainment, results, team/player performances and his interviews to convince me he will be a success.
Anyway; can't wait for the annoying International breaks to end and we can concentrate on sorting things out.

12.) 09 Oct 2014
I have no problems with the guy taking a few days away.people saying it shows he doesn't care talk rubbish.i read that his children had stayed in norway? is that ryt ed? If so taking a few days to see his family n recharge isn't an issue.if he chooses to do it while in the sun then fair play

{Ed007's Note - Yes his kids stay in Norway but RD and their mother aren't together anyway.}

13.) 10 Oct 2014
Yes, it is his job. He's the manager of Celtic Football Club: He needs to make the whole shebang run and run well.

{Ed007's Note - It's Peter Lawwell's job to make sure the whole shebang runs and runs well. Why do we need a Football Development Manager, Head of Youth and Academy, Performance Consultant, Fitness Coach and a Head of Sports Science? I'm actually surprised some people haven't suggested getting rid of the yet, according to them John Collins was going to be doing all of those jobs anyway.
All of these people will have had as much input to any changes as RD, if not more on specific subjects, it wasn't RD who changed the diet, they will have looked at all the available avenues to help improve fitness and the diet problems would have immediately flagged up. Nutritionists, a performance consultant and sport scientists would have done tests and studied it before making reports on what can be done to help the manager reach his goals, RD would talk it over with John Park and it would be implemented and become normal practise because the club can see it is to their advantage to have the players at their peak physical condition, there is NO excuse for any professional athlete not to strive to be in the best of condition.
Most modern players even try to keep fit during the close season so that they are better prepared for the coming season, our players looked jaded in August ffs! The days of 6 weeks on the bevvy and running till you spew in pre-season are long gone.
Have you ever wondered why very few British players succeed when they go to play abroad? It's too much like hard work for them to live their live as a professional athlete, yet foreigners come to British football and usually stand out, Dennis Bergkamp and Arsene Wenger revolutionised Arsenal, players were coming in and couldn't believe the way British players behaved, Gerard Pique has spoke about how shocked he was to see Man Utd players eating burgers and drinking beer. Paulo Di Canio trained the way he played and was very particular about what he ate, John Collins was obsessive about fitness and conditioning as a player, look at the difference in Paul Lambert from Motherwell till he arrived at CP after only a year in Germany, then we have the Kris Boyds, the Garry O'Connors and Liam Millers, they didn't put in the hard work or effort and their careers show it.}

14.) 10 Oct 2014
Thanks for putting the football diet up ed.

Can't believe players are actually struggling to adapt to a diet like this.

{Ed007's Note - I hold my hands up, BB but I love all that kind of stuff, looking at the technical side of the game and reading about the latest methods, that's one of the reasons I am excited by RD's appointment if he is given time. My first choice of replacing NL was Murat Yakin and he would have been doing the exact same kind of thing, modernising the club's approach, Basel are still using a lot of Yakins ideas behind the scenes.
Maybe it was NL's lack of experience that held him back, he only knew how to do it the way he had been taught as a player, times and methods move on and progress, RD has spent time watching Brendan Rodgers and working/studying at Man City.
I guarantee you that a lot of RD's ideas will still be used at CFC after he's gone, no matter when he goes.
RD is the first manager in years to talk about CFC as a CL club, he doesn't feel we should be grateful just to be in it, he wants to make his an our mark and become a well organised, hard to beat team and with energy, fitness and desire to match anyone. Not once did he moan about English teams can pay X amount and we can't compete with the Man Citys of the world but we should be competing with the Basels, the Maribors, the BATE etc etc. He talks the club up rather than moan what other teams are doing, why should the money EPL teams have make any difference to CFC, do teams in Belgium, Spain outside the big 2, Swiss teams or Scandinavian teams use England as the benchmark? Apoel Nicosia reached the CL quarter final in 2012 and went out to Real Madrid, not once did they mention what money English teams were spending.
We need to stop making unrealistic comparisons and start concentrating on our club rather than what anyone else is doing. Big clubs make their own way and concentrate on improving themselves.}

15.) 10 Oct 2014
So Ed, can you tell me exactly what RD's job is?.

{Ed007's Note - He's the first team manager, in charge of first team affairs. It's modern football, the days of managers running the club are long gone. Even Mourinho doesn't have the final say at Chelsea, Liverpool have a committee that decides transfers, and Barca just promote a coach that will keep the ethos of the club in place while tinkering with it to be successful.
RD is one cog of the machine that is geared towards bringing success to CFC, we already know he doesn't hold much sway when it comes to player acquisition, it's his remit to work with the people here to improve the team, improve players already there and any incoming players. He's told us he is trying to do it and told us some of his ideas, he has a proven track record in producing players (between 2001-2007 not 1 Strømsgodset player earned a youth cap for Norway. However, in just 5 years under Deila, the figure reached 179).
Come the end of the season if we haven't reached my expectations I will be ranting away but RD deserves the time and a bit of leeway. Are the stats really that bad when compared to recent years? Wait and see the trophy count and progress at the end of the season, we lost to Accies and that was a freak result, but remember the performance against Dundee Utd? We know the team is capable of that, they showed us.
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.}

16.) 10 Oct 2014
Because of his record at Stromsgodset, at bringing younger players through, should'nt one of the main parts of his job at Celtic be keeping an eye on the younger teams and liasoning with the youth coaches, I've nothing against him having a break, but this week would have been a perfect time for him to spend a bit more time working with the younger players.