THE artificial surface of the Aker Stadium in Molde is familiar terrain for Ronny Deila. But events there on Thursday night still managed to take him into uncharted territory.

A man who has mainly been love bombed throughout his 17-month stint as Celtic manager suddenly found himself in the firing line. Not only was there a blazing row to extinguish with Kris Commons, a man who is fast emerging as a rival anti-hero for the supporters, a stormy night in every sense ended with him running the gauntlet as a mob of angry fans gathered at the team bus, a scene which all played out in front of his watching friends and family.

While the 40-year-old was mainly polite and relaxed as ever when he met the media at Lennoxtown yesterday, ostensibly to preview the Ladbrokes Premiership match with Dundee United, there is no disguising the fact that he is deep in his first real crisis as Parkhead boss. As one wag put it on Thursday night, you can always tell when a manager is in trouble at a club. It is usually shortly after the supporters start calling for the head of the chief executive or chairman.

Regardless of the financial circumstances or rights and wrongs of it all, after back to back Champions League qualifying failures - to Legia Warsaw and Maribor last season, and Malmo this time around - Deila will not survive too many more humiliations like this. The qualifying equation to escape from Europa League Group A already looks bleak and that may be the bare minimum of what is expected.

The 40-year-old admits he does fear that he won't be afforded time to finish a project which he admits is some way off completion, but has banished such thoughts for now to the back of his mind. “That is always a concern," said Deila. "It is. But I can’t go around thinking about that, I have to think about performances. I have to think about how I get the players to play the best they can and together. If we get that, we can win more, I know it."

As for that nastiness outside the stadium gate, it was all rather unnecessary considering how bad Deila was feeling inside. A day on, though, it was somewhat typical that he should almost attempting to spin this new sense of vigorous confrontation and energy around the club as a positive.

“I understand the fans are frustrated, as we were as well," he said. "Everyone has to understand that for me it was even more painful. I don’t think I have ever seen that in Norway. I certainly can’t remember it happening. I had some friends there ... you see I know some people in Norway ... but they know what I have chosen and they shouldn’t feel sorry for me. It could be worse.

"When you don’t perform, you get confrontations," he added. "And that is not only with the supporters, it is also inside the group with the staff and everyone because everyone is so eager to perform. A culture without confrontation means people don’t care and then there is no improvement."

As bad as the club is feeling right now, things could be worse. They sit top of the Premiership, are in both cups, and aren't out of the Europa League hunt just yet. The only problem is that in these days minus Rangers in the top flight, there isn't too much currency to be gained from domestic trophies. The thought of next season, and the possible return of the Ibrox outfit, is the elephant lurking just outside the room

Deila swears blind that he sees signs of progress in this team, although that upward trajectory doesn't seem as clear as it seemed from January onwards last season, when they lost just two matches in normal time, one of which came with ten men against Inter Milan in the San Siro in the knockout stages of the Europa League. While the loss of Virgil van Dijk and Jason Denayer is hardly his fault, at that point Deila seemed to be shaping a side in his own image but perhaps the biggest question now, rather than his coaching abilities, is whether he has the personal influence to steer this oil tanker of a club in his chosen direction.

“Life with a football team goes very up and down, you have to see the pathway to success," he said. "We have won more games this year in Europe than we did last year. We have had our ups and downs but overall our performances in Europe have been better than last year. Our overall goal is to go into Champions League again. Hopefully we will do that next year. It is harsh to say that if we do well domestically, that is nothing. We won two trophies last year and that is a positive thing. You can’t take that away from us."

As for Commons-gate, Deila denies favouritism towards Stefan Johansen, the Norwegian who has also had his spell out of the team this season. New signing Carlton Cole is not fit enough for Dundee United today, though with Charlie Mulgrew having suffered a setback with his thigh injury, there may be a start for Jozo Simunovic. Though short on specifics, Deila admitted his future had been at least subject of one chat with his superiors. "I speak with people all the time," he said. "Everybody loves football and loves Celtic and they see the same things and it is important we talk about what we see and think and Molde was not good enough. It is performance we don't want to repeat."