Atlanta United has their new head coach.
After about six months without a permanent manager, the club has found their guy. Ronny Deila will take over head coaching duties ahead of the 2025 MLS season, the club announced Friday.
Deila is new to Atlanta United, so we caught up with him over Zoom for a brief introduction. He talked to us about his coaching philosophy and how he feels about becoming the next coach of Atlanta United. Our number of questions didn't quite reach 17 since coach is currently making his way to Atlanta, but Deila gave us such focused and thorough answers we thought that would suffice for an early edition. We'll be sure to finish up with some more questions in early January.
For now, 17s, here's the first interview with your new head coach:
First of all, can you tell our supporters how you'd like us to pronounce your name?
Ron-ee DIE-la - Click here to listen to the pronunciation
Alright, now we can get into the nitty gritty. So, why Atlanta United?
First of all, I'm unbelievably excited to come. When this opportunity came up, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to do it. I also have visited you guys to see what the city is about, know the people, feel the people. It feels like a family club. Something I really like is that we can work together as a team. At the same time, I played against Atlanta before. I know what kind of fans they have, what kind of stadium and what kind of opportunities they have to win something and to create something special. This is a dream to have an opportunity to come here and work with you.
Chris Henderson was announced as the club's new chief soccer officer and sporting director the same week you were named head coach. How much did he, along with CEO and president Garth Lagerwey, play into your decision?
It's about the person. It's always about that to get the chemistry. We three are very similar in the way we see things. We all love to win, but at the same time, we understand that we have to be a strong team together. We have to understand that we have different roles into the team and that we support each other and if we have a strong united culture from the top, then it will come down through the whole organization. I feel like the values they have is very similar to the values that I've had all my life as well and that we can get the best out of each other. I have very good feelings so far in these things.
What makes Major League Soccer so special to you that makes you want to return to coaching the league?
It's a league that is developing a lot, quickly. There's a big growth there. It's exciting because everybody has a chance to win. That's not common in the other countries that I've been to -- it's maybe three, four teams that can win. But here it's actually everybody that has an opportunity, because it's a lot of the same foundation in every club. Also, there's so many nice stadiums around and a lot of people in the stands. A very high average in every game. Also, now it's not about players that are old and want to finish their career only. There's some still like that, but that's good, like [Lionel] Messi coming to the to the league. But there's also a lot of young talent coming from all over the world, and I see it just from my home country in Norway, and also in Europe, that many more and more players now are looking to come to U.S. to play in our league. It's a fantastic league that is growing quick. When I was here the last time, it was an unbelievable experience being through the playoffs. Feeling the atmosphere in these kind of games as well was amazing.
You've been to Mercedes-Benz Stadium before. What do you make of the stadium and how does it feeling knowing you now have the support of the 17s and will get to coach at the best venue in the world?
I get goosebumps to think about it. In my opinion, this stadium is one of the nicest in the world. I've seen a lot of stadiums in my life, but when I came in there, I was like, 'Wow, what a stadium.' And when we played, to see how many fans that meets up when you have 40,000 average. Hopefully, we can get back to the big heights as well and get even more people into every game. That's special. Not only in the U.S., especially in the world, when you can put together so many supporters in a club and and see that foundation. That's also one of the reasons that there's a big opportunity to build something huge here because we should make our home games to be like a castle. Nobody should come there and dictate anything. That should be our our home. It's going to be a tough place to come.
If you could pick one soccer legend to have dinner with, who would it be?
Diego Armando Maradona. That would be a good dinner. I think he'd have some stories to tell.
Can you describe your coaching philosophy?
Winning is the most important thing when you come to professional sports, that's for sure, but I don't believe that you win things if you don't have your own play. You need to control games with the ball and also without the ball. To have as much possession in their half and dictate the tempo in the game. Every game, when you go into it, you will see the same pictures over and over again. I believe that you have to have a foundation with hard work. You need a family feeling. Everybody is carrying the team together and doing that very, very hard defense job. From there, you build your own play on the ball, and that's the hardest part in football. That is about being direct enough. It's about putting balls in the box, getting forward. It's about counter pressing when you lose the ball, so you can keep energy and and intensity into the game. When you see the best teams in the world, that is what they are the best at. We will try to have a very clear identity and how we want to play, and that's about being offensive-minded, attacking-minded, but at the same time also very energetic, hard-pressing and forward-minded.
Today is your first day as head coach of Atlanta United. From afar, how have you assessed the current group of players on the roster?
I think they got better and better during the playoffs. Even before the playoffs started, it looked like the players, the whole team, really felt there was everything to win, to go for it. I liked what I saw in the team. They were pressing better. They were more energetic. They did more on the ball. So, they've already made a good foundation there. You can see it's a group that works hard together, want each other well. Good energy. They are organized well already. So, when I come in, it's about getting the details even better so we can develop many of the things that are already there.
When you were at your previous club Celtic in the Scottish Premiership, you had a tradition of running up to the stands after a big victory that was called the "Ronny Roar." How do you feel about us carrying that on at Mercedes-Benz Stadium?
Oh, I'm looking forward to that, to get a great relationship with our fans. It's something that's important. We play for the fans. The football is very, very boring without it. That we feel as united as possible is important. We also have to give from ourselves. When we are winning and we are happy, I would love to come celebrate with some Ronny roars.
As a coach, you eat, sleep, and breathe football, but when you're away from the game, how do you like to unwind and relax?
I love to compete. Everything with sports and games and all these different things. I play with my daughters and my father and my friends all the time. Just playing cards can be... I lose time and place. That's one way. I love to see movies. I'm a social guy, so I love dinners with my friends and my family and good talks over the table. That's things that I really do. I love to train. I train every day, almost, to keep my head sharp and keep my body as good as possible, even though I'm already almost 50 years old. I can feel that I've had a football career behind me. But I try to do these kind of things to keep up my energy. And I love to travel. That's also one thing that I love. I'm traveling around the world now with the work also. So now it's exciting now to come to Atlanta to meet new people and and try to create something special together with you guys.
