Celtic have endured a tough start to the season under the management of Ronny Deila, who was appointed as the replacement for Neil Lennon. The manager has overseen Celtic dropping out of the Champions League without qualifying for the group stages. After having been in the group stages for the last two seasons, the club will now have to accept Europa league football for the coming campaign. To add to the misery, Deila suggested that Celtic should no longer look forward to playing in the Champions League since they have fallen well off the pace.
The comments have not gone well with the hard-core Celtic supporters, who appeared to be turning their back on the new manager. Captain Scott Brown, though, says that fans should be prepared to back the manager during these tough times. Celtic have won the league without much competition in the last few years, which has placed for more important from the European performance. In previous years, the presence of Rangers provided of top competition in the Scottish Premier League and winning the title was far more difficult. Now, performance in Europe’s top competitions are the only factor on which Celtic managers are judged upon.
Celtic take on Red Bull Salzburg in the opening Europa League match. "You have to have faith in him. Everyone sees the good football we are trying to play. It's all going to come together as soon as possible and hopefully that will be Thursday. It's just been getting used to the new shape and new players. Now the transfer window is closed, that's our squad settled. We've got no excuses now,” said Brown. The club recently brought an end to a poor run of form by winning 2-1 against Aberdeen. They went five matches without a win prior to this win.