GORDON BACKS DEILA

GOALKEEPER Craig Gordon has backed Ronny Deila by insisting he would seek the advice of the under-fire Celtic boss if he moved into management.The Norwegian, already under pressure following the Hoops’ Europa League exit, came in for another bout of criticism after the 2-1 home defeat to Motherwell last week, despite the Parkhead side remaining one point clear of Aberdeen at the top of the table with a game in hand over the Dons.

Leading the critics was former Celtic striker Andy Walker, who described the Hoops’ style of play as “dull” and “uninspiring”.

However, ahead of the trip to Tynecastle to play Hearts on Sunday, Gordon, who has started taking his coaching badges, spoke in glowing terms of Deila, describing him as “a very talented coach”.

“There is always going to be criticism at Celtic if you don’t win any game,” said the 32-year-old Scotland international.

“But I get on with the manager, he has got a lot of good ideas and there is definitely a lot of things that if and when I go into coaching later on, I would take into it.

Ronny Deila responds to some Celtic fans setting up a petition to have the manager sacked

“I am sure in the future if that comes up I will be giving him a phone to ask about a few things because there is definitely things in his style and managerial techniques that are good and that I would like to take forward myself.

“He is very calm, very methodical in trying to get us to play his style and he has very good ideas in the way he sets the team up.

“You are always going to get bad results for any team – the best teams in the world don’t win every game, so that is always going to happen.

“But he is a very good coach with good ideas and whether we get the result or not, you can’t take that away from him. He is a very talented coach.”