Deila feels uniquely equipped to guide New York City FC: “I’ve never been more prepared to take over a team than I am right now."

New York City FC coach Ronny Deila says that it normally takes a year for him to gather the kind of information he’s gleaned during the Coronavirus Pandemic. He’s watched all 34 games from 2019, start to finish.

When Ronny Deila was hired to be the fourth coach in the six-year history of New York City FC, he had five days to prepare for preseason and five weeks to organize his new team for the Concacaf Champions League opener against San Carlos of Costa Rica.

“I had seen [NYCFC] a couple of games before but I didn’t have much time coming straight into this job,” Deila said recently on a conference call. “It was the same when I took over Celtic.”

Unlike at Celtic FC where he was named manager of the Hoops two weeks before preseason training commenced, Deila has been inadvertently granted an extended examination of New York City during the COVID-19 suspension of training and matches.

“For me, if we are going to see something positive in the situation, I have time now to really get to know the team from before,” Deila said. “I’ve watched all the games [from 2019] from start to finish – I went through all 34 games.”

Deila said it has been a valuable exercise for him – especially with 23 players returning to the first team.

“There are a lot of things that are much clearer now – you have a clear style yourself but you have to adapt to the players,” Deila said. “It was quite interesting to see when they play with five behind and four behind and how to do that ideally and also see individuals and how they suit the different styles. Taty (Castellanos) was sometimes on the side and sometimes Maxi (Moralez) on the right, left and center – a lot of different positions. I now have a very good view of what the strength of the players individually and also then how we can put that into the team to get the players in their best situation – what they like to do most and what they are best at.”

The former central defender, now in his 13th season as a first team coach, said he also absorbed constructive game management ideas.

“It’s very interesting to see how they [Dome Torrent and his staff] managed the team without certain players,” Deila said. “Also, how to sub to change a game. If you do something that is not completely new for them, that they’ve done before - like play more than one formation. I know how I want to do it and a lot of those things are similar to what they’ve done before.”

And with three CCL matches plus the opening two games in the MLS regular season, Deila says that he can provide useful information to the group.

“I got a chance to see how players are reacting when it really matters,” Deila said. “It’s also important to give the players feedback as well. To have a base to try to improve the players and the team is fantastic to have. Normally it takes a year to get these things that we have now. I’ve never been more prepared to take over a team than I am right now.”

 Deila reunited with family – just in time

During the conference call, Deila’s four-year old daughter Isabella could be heard playing in the background. At one point, the City head coach asked his partner, Anna, to see if she could settle her down.

“It’s tough to have small kids - I’m happy I don’t have three of the small ones,” chuckled Deila. “One is enough when you’re over 40 years old.”

The 44-year old father of three was almost forced into solitary confinement at his Hoboken, NJ apartment when his family was nearly stranded in Norway at the on-set of travel concerns.

“Anna and Isabella were going to come over at the end of March but when they saw everything was closing we had to try to get them here as quick as possible,” Deila said. “It was a strange day. She was going to take a plane in the morning to Helsinki and then New York. She got to the airport two hours before but there were no people around the gate. She was told the plane is coming so take your time. So, she went to the toilet with Isabella and came back and they had closed everything. They said it was too late, the plane was gone and they stayed in Oslo so we had to find another flight to get here. It wasn’t very cheap but we got it and they landed 10 o’clock at night - two hours before the travel ban. They could’ve still been in Norway.”

Deila has twin daughters from a previous marriage and they are safe with their mother in Norway – both are professional handball players.

 “They have to train by themselves just like we’re doing,” Deila said.