Ronny Deila makes Celtic 'average players' claim as he reveals his biggest Parkhead disappointment

Ronny Deila believes the "average players" he had at Celtic played a major part in his Parkhead downfall.

But he takes personal responsibility for the way it ended - with their Champions League exit against Malmo a particular sore point.

Deila won back to back league titles at Parkhead after replacing Neil Lennon although there was a feeling they underperformed for long spells under the Norwegian.

They were eliminated at the Champions League playoff round in consecutive seasons and finished rock bottom of their Europa League group in his second and final campaign.

And while the Norwegian boss, currently in charge of New York City, takes responsibility for failing to live up to fans' expectations, he does admit the "average" standard of some of his players didn't help.

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Speaking on the Press Box podcast, Deila said: “We lost a lot of good players in the previous couple of years before I came in.

"We did not have the same amount of money invested as Brendan Rodgers did in the following couple of seasons.

"That made things difficult, but I also need to take some responsibility for failures.

“In that second season we had too many average players in the squad. However, there was some good talent