ARILD Stavrum has re-invented himself as a novelist in recent times but he is still the man to turn to if you are looking for chapter and verse on Molde. Much of the former Aberdeen and Besiktas striker's back pages were spent at the Aker Stadium, where Celtic and their supporters will arrive on Europa League duty on Thursday.

Stavrum speaks warmly of his first stint at the club, a prolific spell where he played up front alongside a young Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, distinctly less so about his return to the Aker Stadium later on in his career, when he was "older and basically injured all the time". And as for the brief period he spent as manager of the club in 2006, which ended in relegation and the sack, not to mention losing a Champions League qualifying tie to Paul Le Guen's Rangers, probably the least said about that the better.

Anyway, Stavrum's main point of interest right now is his status as an expert witness on events which will unfold on Thursday night. While he cannot attend the match due to a previous work commitment in Oslo, he will be sure to get in front of a TV to watch it, and he has already penned his thoughts on how the tie will turn out for his occasional day job with the Norwegian media.

Stavrum reckons Celtic should be wary of the side which top Group A in front of a crowd in the tight confines of the Aker Stadium which will be 8,000 to 11,000, "depending on how cold it is". Manager Erling Moe, who stepped up from coach and physical trainer when Tor Ole Skullerud was sacked one season on from leading the club to a domestic double, has a squad which mixes exciting young talent with some old hands.

Out of the latter basket is the club's 40-year-old central midfield talisman Daniel Berg Hestad, a playing contemporary of Stavrum's from his Molde days who quite simply never got round to retiring. A bona fide legend at the club, no man has ever played more often for Molde nor in the Norwegian top flight. "I am not sure exactly what team they will play because they have been mixing it up a little bit," said Stavrum. "But Daniel Berg Hestad is a mate of mine who is always at his best in big European matches."

As for the younger generations, Sander Svendsen, an 18-year-old forward who is an excellent dribbler and can finish with both feet, isn't too far behind Real Madrid wonder kid Martin Overgaard when it comes to the billing of standard bearer for the future of Norwegian football. In the prime of his career is Vegard Forren, a 27-year-old central defender who is a mainstay of the Norwegian national team, who Stavrum reckons is "the best player in the Norwegian league at the moment". Ola Kamara, on-loan at the club from Austria Vienna, is another man Deila will have to be wary of, although he at least should be well aware of his abilities.

Twelve goals in 14 matches from the striker of Sierra Leone descent helped take Deila to perhaps his greatest personal triumph, the Norwegian title with lowly Stromsgodset. Just for good measure, there is also a Flo in the team, left back Per Egil, who is a nephew of former Rangers player Tore Andre. "It is a never-ending family that one, they just seem to produce one good player after another," says Stavrum. "Per Egil is a good player too, he is a left back who gets good crosses into the box."

Now onto his literary career, Stavrum is a frequent enough visitor to Scotland to keep tabs on the progress of Deila, a man with whom he once attended coaching seminars. He feels that his countryman deserves to be regarded as a qualified success, even if he hasn't always been successful in continental qualifying.

"I know Ronny quite well," said Stavrum. "I have taken a few training courses with him over the years and met him a few times. He is tremendously talented, he always created a great impression when I was taking courses with him and I am not surprised that he has done so well. What he did with Stromsgodset was a fantastic achievement.

"Celtic will not be as good as they can be while Rangers are not there, because you maybe need that rivalry to be on the edge all the time," he added. "That is one of the reasons why the gap to Aberdeen has been dropping a little bit. But I think Ronny has done a great job the league and has been unlucky in the Champions League qualifiers. They were hammering Malmo in the first game then had a really bad match in Sweden, so while it has been a bit up and down for him but winning the league is the main thing. It looks like Aberdeen are slowing down again so they surely have a good chance to win again."