CELTIC’S Europa League match against Molde on Thursday night puts an inevitable focus on Ronny Deila’s return to Norway, but more uncomfortably for Scottish football generally it casts a light on just how far our national sport has descended.
It’s not just that, improbably, Molde are sitting top of Group A with four points from their opening two games. It’s that Norwegian football, considered a joke when Celtic famously won the European Cup in 1967, is now making the Scottish game look like the stand-up comedy material.
A 2-1 defeat in Italy on Tuesday, when they were sunk by two late goals, means that Norway haven’t yet qualified for Euro 2016. But by finishing third in their group behind the Italians and Croatia they have at least given themselves a chance — unlike Scotland, whose fans were practically kneeling in supplication in front of Gordon Strachan after he guided them to fourth in Group D.
Molde were still a minor club, even by Norwegian standards, when Celtic won the European Cup. The town itself is comfortably smaller than Perth. Yet they have found a way to rise and challenge Rosenborg’s domination of Norwegian football, winning their first Tippeligaen title in 2011, and adding two more in 2012 and 2014.
Perhaps more impressively, given the abysmal recent European record of Scottish clubs outwith Celtic, Molde played in the group stage of the Champions League in 1999-2000, and the same stage of the Europa League in 2012-13. On that occasion they beat Stuttgart home and away.
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This time, the Norwegians have defied all expectations. They opened up with a 3-1 away win at high-spending Fenerbahce, and followed up with a home 1-1 draw against Ajax.
“Molde has been the best club in Norway the last five years,” Deila, who was manager of Stromsgodset before joining Celtic 16 months ago, confirmed. “After Ole Gunnar Solskjaer went into the club they really get the mentality of winning. They have got a lot of trophies in the last five or six years.”
Solskjaer, who made his name as a player with Molde before joining Manchester United, returned to the Norwegian club as their manager in 2011 and took them to their first two titles before joining Cardiff City, where he had a disastrous eight months before leaving the club by mutual consent.
Asked what Molde have done to become so successful, Deila replied: “A lot of people have talked about that. Of course they have investors behind them, which has given the possibility to create a good team. A small city like Molde could never get that money by themselves.
“But it’s not just about getting the money — you have to do it in the right way. They have done that unbelievably well in Molde. They have a good structure with the youth. They have sold a lot of players abroad and developed others who are there still.
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“Last year they won the double and had the best season ever in their history.”
It hasn’t been the same in 2015, which makes Molde’s early appearance at the top of Group A all the more surprising. Going into today’s game against Mjondalen they were lying seventh in the Tippeligaen, with just eleven wins from their 26 matches.
The manager who succeeded Solskjaer and took them to the title in 2014, Tor Ole Skullerud, was sacked in August and his replacement, Erling Moe, is still in an interim role. The task facing Deila, and Celtic, on the artificial pitch at the 11,800-seater Aker Stadion isn’t as tough as it might have been last season. The Norwegian believes he can make a reverse Viking pillaging raid.
“It’s a hard place to go to, but we want to go there and fight for three points,” he said. “If we win we get four out of six points away from home and that’s a very good start in the group. It’s always hard to get away points in Europe, but this is a good opportunity.” As Deila was quick to point out, he is not the only Norwegian heading home this week. Stefan Johansen, whose back problems mean he hasn’t matched the form of his first season at Celtic, will also be in line to face Molde.
“He had a bad knock against Fenerbahce on his neck, and that was also unfortunate,” Deila said. “There is more to go come. You know with Stefan what you get all the time, and that’s 100 per cent hard work. In my eyes he is a winner.
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“When you see him play for Norway, he is the leader in the team. He dictates what’s going on. It’s my task to get him back to the level he can be as quickly as possible. He does everything in training and is in a much better situation now.”
Molde had one player, central defender Vegard Forren, who started alongside Johansen for Norway in the Italy game. “I know their players well,” Deila said. “I know their strengths and weaknesses. What they have done is good for Norwegian football, but I also know it’s possible to beat them.”
Swedish defender Mikael Lustig, who played for Rosenborg before joining Celtic in 2012, said: “In my first two years there we were champions so Norwegian football is a good memory. Rosenborg is Molde’s main rivals, so I’ll get a warm welcome. I was surprised absolutely when they beat Fenerbahce. It’s difficult to go to Turkey and win.”
Molde’s only previous experience of playing a Scottish club in Europe was against Rangers in 2006. They lost 2-0 on aggregate in a qualifying round for the Uefa Cup, but everything that has happened to both clubs since is yet another indicator of Scottish and Norwegian footballing trends.