Deila says Dons were afraid to talk up title chances

Last updated : 09 May 2015 By Stand Free Ed

Ronny Deila

Deila arrives at Pittodrie tomorrow after last weekend’s results made his side Premiership champions.

Aberdeen have received some plaudits for pushing Celtic for as long as they did and have finished as runners-up for the first time in 21 years.

But Deila feels the Dons paid a price for their 'take each game as it comes' attitude, talking down the title whenever they were quizzed by the media.

The Norwegian claims if he had been in charge of Aberdeen, he would have stated from day one that his team could become champions.

Deila said: "In my experience you have to be unafraid to talk about winning the title. If you say you want to come second, then you will be a number two.

"I came to Celtic talking about winning the treble. We didn’t get all three in the end, but that’s how I think about leadership and motivation.

"When we won the league with Stromsgodset I believed we would win the league. Players said we would win the league and we really believed we could do it – and we did it.

"You have to put demands on yourself. You have to say what you are ready to do. Everything is possible in football if you work together and have consistency.

“You can see what Aberdeen have done so far, but I hope we are improving more than them and there will be a greater distance between us next year. But if everybody is improving, it’s going to be a very good season for Scottish football."

Source: The Herald