Murdo MacLeod believes that only a victory against Rangers will convince the doubters Ronny Deila is the right man to manage Celtic, writes MARK GUIDI.
The clubs meet in the League Cup semi-final at Hampden on February 1 and it will be the Norwegian coach’s first taste of the hostile atmosphere that comes with this fixture.
MacLeod sees similarities between some of the non-complimentary comments made against Deila and what was aimed at Wim Jansen when he took over as Celtic Head Coach in the summer of 1997.
With MacLeod as his trusted No. 2, the Dutchman proved the doubters wrong and led the club to the title that season to stop Rangers from doing 10-in-a-row.
MacLeod reckons the turning point came in the 2-0 win for the Hoops against Walter Smith’s men in the New Year fixture.
He believes that’s exactly what Deila needs and said: “I think Wim lost his first two League games and that was sore especially with the Celtic fans not knowing who he was.
“Obviously they were sceptical and worried about whether he was the right man to stop 10-in-a-row.
“But he was going down the right road from day one because he had to build a new side and brought in Lambert, Burley, Larsson, Rieper, Mahe and Gould.
“I think the Celtic fans’ mindsets are changed in Old Firm games. I think they’re so important. That was a boost to win that game in 1998. Rangers were flying and with the quality they had, we had to make sure we won that game.”
Behind the scenes disagreements between the hierarchy Fergus McCann and Jock Brown and the football department meant Jansen and MacLeod left after that title win.
With the constant squabbling and disharmony between the parties, that was the inevitable outcome.
You could say similarities exist at Rangers just now but MacLeod believes the situation there at the present moment is far worse than it was at Parkhead 17 years ago.
He insisted: “With what we had to go through, there was still happiness on the football side of it and at the training ground. The players just played and they only had one target.
“I think what’s going on at Ibrox is a million miles away because every day they’re on the back and front pages about their finances and who’s fighting with who. We didn’t have that.”
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