Ronny Deila has admitted that the pressure of managing Celtic overwhelmed him.
Two Champions League failures against Maribor and Malmo cast a cloud over the manager that was to do things differently and take Celtic to a new level.
A year ago the final straw arrived at Hampden when Deila’s side lost on penalties to Sevco in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup.
Hindsight has Mark Warburton’s side playing a dazzling brand of football but the reality is that apart from the opening 30 minutes Celtic dominated the match without being able to score.
Extra-time was one way traffic towards Wes Foderingham’s goal but in the end Celtic trooped off the pitch as losers with Deila’s reign over within three days.
“It’s strange because losing that game to Rangers was in some ways not too bad for me,” the former Celtic boss told the Daily Record.
“I don’t mean I didn’t mind losing to Rangers. I know it hurt everyone at the club and it hurt me too. What I mean is we played so badly we didn’t deserve to win it.
“I didn’t recognise the team as being my team that day. There was no speed, no energy.
“That responsibility was mine. Right there at that point I realised my team was out there but they were not having fun any more. I understood the pressure was too big to carry the team on.”
Deila is now back in Norway managing Valerenga.