FEELING BRANN NEW

From Norway disaster to derby delight, Rohl has turned it round

- BY ANDY NEWPORT

IT'S A mere 73 days since Danny Rohl was forced to cross the pitch at the Brann Stadion and quell the furious fans that just watched his new team be ripped apart in Norway.

Yesterday, it was cheers instead of jeers as those same supporters beckoned their boss down the Parkhead touchline for a rapturous derby ovation.

If ever two pictures summed up one team's redemption arc, this was it.

The German was appointed to fix a broken squad and mend relations with a supporter base shattered by the disastrous misadventure with Russell Martin.

But there seemed no sign of that on a torrid first night in charge in Norway as things turned toxic following a 3-0 skelping from Bergen.

Appointed only three days before his opening Europa League contest, the former Sheffield Wednesday boss felt compelled to approach the travelling faithful and appeal for calm.

Eleven weeks on, and the bond with the fans has been restored along with the faith in the team they had once written off as duds.

Rohl has managed to transform that staggering, ragged mess of a side ripped apart in Scandinavia into one that might just have a shot at a title most had given up for dead.

The new boss knows there's a long way still to go - but he also knows how far his side have come having wiped out the EIGHT-POINT deficit he inherited on stumbling Celtic.

Reflecting on his first game in the Gers dugout, he said: "Yeah, look back to my first game in Bergen, how it was there, it was a difficult moment.