Deila’s 2016 New Year’s resolutions

On the Eve of 2016 Ronny Deila has laid down the marker for what he wants to achieve in the coming year.

The Celtic manager was speaking ahead of Saturday’s Glasgow Derby against Partick Thistle and picked out the treble and Champions League group stage qualification as the two key targets.

Deila endured a year of disappointment in 2015 as he was one handball decision of replicating Martin O’Neill’s treble winning season in his first year in charge.

He also fell short in Europe as Celtic manager as he saw his side crash out to Malmo and then fail to get out of a tough Europa League group.

However, the Norwegian remains optimistic heading into 2016 and wants to hit the ground running with a win against Partick Thistle in front of the home crowd.

Speaking to the media earlier today, as quoted by STV, Deila said:

Win everything in Scotland is one of the goals. Play Champions League.

And developing the club forward, developing the players individually. There are a lot of things I want to achieve.

High goals, tough goals but you need to have that if you’re going to succeed.

Despite it being common practice to look back on the year the past, the nature of Deila’s job as Celtic manager means he is always looking back to move forward.

I look back all the time and I look forwards all the time so it’s nothing new on New Year’s Eve. It’s something you do all the time.

We always have to evaluate everything we have done and look forward to improve things. We have to look forward to playing games and enjoy winning when you’re winning.

That’s very important when you’re in football. Sometimes you have to be better defensively, sometimes it’s that we don’t create the chances we need to.

That’s how it is to be a manager and a leader. You have to see the trends in play and see what we have to improve on.

In the immediate future, the 40-year-old has also identified players he will target in January.

We’re talking a lot with the scouting department. We have names that we’re looking at and we know what we’re looking for.

Then it’s about finding opportunities. But we are quite clear in what we want.