Twelve months ago virtually no Celtic fans had heard of Virgil van Dijk or Stefan Johansen.
Twelve hours ago who had heard of Ronny Deila?
With such an obvious blueprint in place for recruiting players, generally young, ambitious and emerging, it’s only natural that the same type of profiling is used to identify managerial candidates.
At 38 and having won the Norwegian title for Stromgodset Deila has almost all of the credentials required to be manager of Celtic. An obvious understanding of the club and environment would help but as Wim Jansen demonstrated in 1997 these things can be picked up if he is surrounded by the right coaching team.
Deila is credited as having Jorgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers which suggests that he is keen to learn and advance his career.
After developing Johansen into a Celtic player his Stromgodset manager said: “There has been so much speculation about Stefan but it seems now he’ll get his move and it’s much deserved.
“I’m proud I have been allowed to work and develop him as a player. He’s the first player from Stromsgodset who has been good enough to get into the national team of Norway.
“He has kept improving since he got here. He has intensity in his defensive work from midfield and is calm with the ball – he has vision few others have.
“He’s blessed with a natural passing ability and was a creative factor in our team. He’s also a winner.”
It now seems possible that Deila could follow Johansen to Glasgow as Celtic expand their player recruitment policy into coaching.
Whoever takes over from Neil Lennon it looks like the club has looked beyond the obvious candidates with the job of managing Celtic still a big attraction despite the cries of Armageddon in the background.