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Deila hits back at Celtic's regime critics

NTB/The Local
NTB/The Local - [email protected]
Deila hits back at Celtic's regime critics
Ronny Deila under fire about his views on team diet and fitness. Photo: Leszek Szymañski / NTB scanpix

Celtic manager Ronny Deila erupted at a press conference on Thursday ahead of his team's Europa League crunch tie, lambasting his critics with a torrent of strong language and threats to quit Scottish football.

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The Norwegian faced ridicule from sections of the Scottish media about his focus on his players' diet and athleticism, but the Celtic boss believes changes have to be made for Scotland to return to the top of the football hierarchy.

Deila threatened to quit the Scottosh game if his ideas went unheard.

“If Scotland and Celtic aren't ready for these ideas, I could travel back to Norway. It's not a problem,” said Deila to The Times.

His rebuke grew stronger: "if I want to get to the Champions League, you f-----g have to look at the Champions League and if you see the fitness in the Champions League it’s unbelievable – unbelievable!

“It's not easy for a Norwegian to say this. If Louis Van Gaal came here saying the same thing, you would've been sitting there nodding agreeingly. But I come from Norway, where we are only good at skiing.”

Deila said further: “I become annoyed from talking about this. Do you think that Andy Murray [Scottish tennis hero] eats chips? With a player being three-four kilo too heavy, you can just forget about meeting Christiano Ronaldo. The physical level out there in the top clubs is phenomenal. Shouldn't we try to get there?
 
 “I think you would have been shocked by the professionalism in clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea if you had visited them.”

Celtic plays Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday evening to decide who will qualify for the next round of the Europa League.

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