Ronny Deila

Lore & Background

Deila spent most of his playing career at Odd before becoming head coach at Strømsgodset, winning the Norwegian Cup in 2010 and the Norwegian League title in 2013. In two seasons managing Celtic, in 2014–15 and 2015–16, he won the Scottish Premiership twice and the Scottish League Cup in 2014–15. Deila won the MLS Cup 2021 with New York City.

Reader's Guide

Deila began his playing career with lower league club Urædd. He then joined Odd, where he became a mainstay in their defence. In 2000, he played in the side that defeated Viking 2–1 in the Norwegian Cup Final, his only major honour as a player. He joined Viking in 2004, before moving on to join Strømsgodset as player/assistant coach in 2006.

Although by 2009 he was coaching Strømsgodset, he combined these duties for a couple of years with playing part-time at lower league Sparta Bragerøen until 2011. He was capped nine times for the Norwegian under-17 side and then made two appearances for the under-21s in 1996. Deila never represented his country at senior level. After leaving Viking, Deila coached Norwegian fourth-tier club Brodd briefly in 2005.

He then joined Strømsgodset in 2006 as player/assistant coach, working under head coach Dag-Eilev Fagermo until the end of the 2007 season, when Fagermo decided to move to Odd. Sporting director Jostein Flo then promoted Deila to head coach of Strømsgodset. At this time, Deila retired as a player. His first two seasons as head coach saw the club struggle against relegation, but his attacking philosophy began to bear fruit as Strømsgodset started to record higher finishes in the Norwegian league.

In 2010, he won the Norwegian Cup, and in 2013 he won Tippeligaen with Strømsgodset, their first title in 43 years. The same year, Deila was also awarded the Kniksen Award for Coach of the Year. Deila showed a keenness to take on board coaching ideas at foreign clubs. Having previously visited Manchester City, Barcelona and Ajax to acquire further knowledge, he then after the end of the season in 2013 travelled to Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool to study their coaching and training methods.

In the 2014 season, Deila's Strømsgodset were second in the league by the end of May after eleven games. The club had continued their impressive home record under Deila, having gone 44 league games unbeaten at their Marienlyst Stadium since June 2011; just one short of the all-time Norwegian record held by Rosenborg. However, Deila was beginning to attract foreign attention, and Strømsgodset had given him a new contract to run until 2016 in order to head off interest from Swedish champions Malmö who had unsuccessfully attempted to poach him in January.