This is not the two Ronnys... Nancy will be more prepared for wild ride in Celtic hotseat

Wilfried comes in armed with modern-day nous

- BY MICHAEL GANNON

A FEW weeks after Ronny Deila was given the Celtic job, there was still a wideeyed sense the Norwegian couldn't quite believe where he'd landed.

He'd had the whirlwind appointment and faced the huge media throng at Celtic Park and now it was down to work.

There was a slight rabbit-inheadlights quality about him back then, and no wonder. He was 38 years old and embarking on a mammoth job.

But a couple of things jumped out early on about him when a group of us hacks sat down with him for a casual chin wag on his first pre-season in Austria.

Firstly, he was a top bloke.

Bosses can have more faces than the town clock but Ronny was as straight as an arrow, down to earth and immediately likeable.

Secondly, there was also substance. Deila had big ideas and got them across very well.

But also, tellingly, there was a revelation about the scale of the leap he'd just made from Stromsgodset.

Deila was asked what the media demands were like at his old club and he explained that it tended to be one reporter would come up from Oslo once a week, he'd invite him into his office for a cup of tea and a chat about team news.

He was half joking - but only half. Arriving at Celtic was like going from Smallville to Metropolis.

It turned out Delia was no superman, but he went on to prove he's a more than decent boss who might've just got that role too soon.

There's no doubt he was a gamble back then.

Just as Wilfried Nancy is a risk right now.