Hoops goalkeeper Craig Gordon has told Ronny Deila that he can walk out of Celtic Park with his head held high.
Celtic effectively sealed a fifth successive title with a 3-1 win at Tynecastle on Saturday afternoon and Gordon insisted that there was every reason for the Parkhead side to celebrate, despite the criticisms that have engulfed Deila’s side this term.
The Norwegian has three league games to go before he leaves Celtic and although it has been something of a disappointing campaign overall, Gordon believes that Deila should enjoy his moment.
“Of course he should, we all should,” said the goalkeeper. “It is an incredible achievement for all of us to be part of a team that has just won five league titles on the bounce.
“I have so much respect for Ronny and I hope he enjoys this and I hope he enjoys the last games before he goes.
“To me he is a coach with some good ideas, a good philosophy on how he wants the game to be played and I don’t have any doubt that he will be in another job pretty quickly.
“He is a young coach and I think the last two years will have stood him in good stead. He is a good manager and he is someone whom I would like to think I will still keep in touch with. I fully expect that he will go on to a very successful career.
“He has had a tough few months. He is good at keeping that pressure off the players. But we are pretty much over the line now and he deserves to be allowed to enjoy that.”
And Gordon himself has insisted that the title triumph will be appreciated more in the years to come than it might be at the minute.
The celebrations at Tynecastle were relatively low key, as Gordon acknowledged, but he believes that if it becomes part of a sequence of titles then it will be savoured as much as any other.
“Winning a title is special,” he said. “It has to be. You play 38 games over the course of a season and if the league shows that you are the best team in the country then surely that is something to celebrate?
“I agree that it was all quite relaxed after the whistle had gone. It wasn’t a crazy day simply because we have been expected to do this. But if Celtic go on to win more titles – as we would like to – then this will be as important as any other.”
And the former Hearts keeper joked that he had always dreamed of a title winning day at Tynecastle.
“Yeah, I always wanted to win the league in front of the Hearts support,” he smiled. “But, seriously I am at a stage in my career where I can appreciate that these are special days – however you do it.
“We have got ourselves there and the next step will be on getting ourselves together and preparing for the summer. There will be changes, I’m sure, as a new manager will want to put his own stamp on the team but right now our focus is on enjoying the last three games.
“The pressure is off of us probably for the first time this season. We can relax and express ourselves a wee bit now.”
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