Six months into his reign at Celtic and Ronny Deila is beginning to develop an understanding to what the club is all about.
Arsenal, Spurs, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund and Benfica all come under the ‘huge club’ tags that incoming managers like to acknowledge before getting on with their job.
Marooned in a league with little competition brings an extra dimension to the task of managing Celtic with Stromsgodset providing only the slightest of groundings for the incoming hoops boss.
A new club, country and set of demands isn’t something to take on lightly but few genuinely appreciate the stresses and demands of waking up in the morning having direct responsibility for the ambitions of so many.
Gordon Strachan encountered it all, taking over from Martin O’Neill to deliver titles and European success before discovering that a fourth season was one to many before passing the keys on to Tony Mowbray then Neil Lennon.
The current Scotland manager survived a harrowing arrival at the club, stamped his authority on everything and lived to tell a tale that includes hundreds of challenges from Chris Sutton and Artmedia Bratislava through to Tommy Burns, Aiden McGeady, Artur Boruc, Thomas Gravesen and Mike McCurry.
Coaching courses, certificates and manuals don’t cover those areas with Deila getting the inside track to back up his own six month crash course in all things Celtic.
“Gordon and I had a dinner three weeks ago and it was very nice,” the Norwegian explained about the Scotland boss. “As he said, there is no-one who can imagine what being Celtic manager is like unless you have been in the situation yourself.
“It is so good to talk to people with experience. That is also why it is important for young players to talk to experienced players. They can give you 90 per cent of things which tell you that you are doing the right things. Then there is the other 10 per cent which you hadn’t thought about. You think: I should do that this way.
“It gives you confidence that you are on the right track, but also puts new things into your mind.
“To speak to people like Gordon with experience is so good for me. That is why I go around and seek knowledge.
“Gordon was really, really good to talk with. The best thing for me is that he is also very much into coaching. It’s about what you do on the training pitch to get the level up, to get people well organised and in good shape.
“If you do your work 100 per cent, you get the same in matches and that is a philosophy we share. Also, he told me to switch off. To put yourself away from the pressures and find something to do outside of football.”
The next six months will reveal much more about Deila than the six months so far- how he emerges from February into March will certainly feature in how his tenure is judged.