However, the comparison works against Deila when it is remembered that Lennon saw Celtic to the title while Rangers were still in the same division in 2013. Lennon also supervised a couple of epic Champions League performances against Barcelona, losing in stoppage time in the Nou Camp in October 2012 before extracting revenge with a sensational home victory a month later.
Deila can only fantasise about such a triumph. True, he got Celtic into the first knockout round of last year’s Europa League but they took just a single point from the second half of the preceding group campaign as they conceded eight goals in three games.
The manager promised improvement this season, but after losing a Champions League playoff to Malmo – despite running up a 2-0 lead early in the first leg – they took only three points from a possible 18 in an eminently winnable Europa League section. That dismal performance heightened the need for Deila to produce tangible evidence of progress in the domestic competitions.
January was productive enough in the league, where Celtic won four straight matches, including an 8-1 demolition of Hamilton, hence his manager of the month accolade. But the smouldering doubts amongst a substantial number of Hoops fans about Deila’s ability to take the side forward were ignited once more when Celtic were beaten by Ross County in Sunday’s Scottish League Cup semi-final and defeated in midweek by Aberdeen, who can now draw level on points if they beat St Johnstone on Saturday.
Under pressure, the Norwegian likes to conjure Utopia and he did it again on Thursday by declaring that “this is a Champions League club”, prompting the inevitable thought – “not under you, it ain’t.”
Deila then evoked the communal spirit when he said: "We are in this together, everybody is one group. I talk to the players, the board and Peter (Lawwell, chief executive) and we are going to turn this around.
"The most important thing is that everyone, the fans, everybody stands together and we are one team."
Certainly, Scott Brown, restored as captain against Aberdeen after a pronged absence due to injury, stood by his beleaguered commander when he said: “We have to take a lot of responsibility.
“It’s us that are out on the park, it’s 11 versus 11, and Aberdeen got the better of us for the second time this season up there which isn’t great, but we are still top of the league and three points clear and that’s what people have to remember.
“We still have a lot of games to go, we have a big squad and we intend to use it. “Winning leagues is always hard and to get beaten in two games in a row is always hard, but it’s about how you bounce back.
“We have a strong mentality in the dressing room and we have the belief we can do it and we will go on and do it. The manager has been good since he has come in.
“He has put 100 per cent into the job and we need to do it for him. He has put a lot of faith in everyone and now we owe it to the fans and him and everyone at Celtic Park.”
Mind you, Brown also offered an unintentionally comical moment when he said, of Aberdeen’s superb opening strike in Wednesday’s 2-1 victory: “Jonny Hayes has scored a screamer that he wouldn’t do again if he had 20 attempts.”
Apart, presumably, from the identical ‘screamer’ the Dubliner scored at Pittodrie two years ago, when he put an end to Fraser Forster’s 1,256 minutes of clean sheets in the Celtic goal.
That aside, Brown’s support of Deila was commendable. The manager is a courteous, thoughtful and affable man who is popular with the media because of his patient willingness to discuss and debate with them – a trait which perhaps reflects the Scandinavian respect for consensus.
The trouble is that what is wanted around Parkhead is a touch of that awesome Viking character, the berserker. The capacity for rage is a necessary tool of an Old Firm manager. Unless it is in evidence soon, Deila is liable to be steering his longboat in another direction – and certainly not towards the Glasgow football equivalent of Valhalla.
- Telegraph