Ronny Deila wanted his players to display some balls, so he showed them his own.
The former Celtic manager is now in charge of Norwegian side Valerenga and came up with a brand new managerial style when he found himself in desperate need of a victory.
Some players need to be shouted at in order to give their best while certain footballers need a manager to put his arm around their shoulder.
But Deila’s men needed to see a naked 42-year-old. And Deila wasn’t going to deny them that.
An Eliteserien meeting between relegation-threatened Valerenga and Brann on September 24 saw Deila make the unusual decision to strip naked for a team meeting in a bid to motivate the team.
“A lot of people have probably seen me nude already,” Deila told the Norwegian outlet VG, via the Guardian. “We have to have fun in all the seriousness.”
The technique might have been an unorthodox one but who are we to question it? Because it somehow worked and inspired Valerenga to a 2-1 victory over the visiting favourites.
“I don’t know if it was pretty, but it worked well” midfielder Herman Stengel said of the bizarre nudity.
“It was important to offer ourselves. It was what he was trying to say. We must dare to make fools of ourselves. It must be on the pitch as well. We know we’re good footballers and we can cope with it all.”
Deila has not resorted to getting his cock out since the victory and that’s not something that the club captain, Christian Grindheim, is too upset about.
“No one was really disappointed that he has not done it again since,” Grindheim said. “It was perfectly fine. It was a metaphor to try and be ourselves. He wanted us to relax our shoulders.”
