Ronny Deila: I will never quit as Celtic manager

Ronny Deila insists that he will never quit as Celtic manager.

Deila is also confident Celtic will retain the Premiership title.

"I don't consider it," he said of his position. "I talk with the players all the time, the board, we're in this together and we're going to turn it around together."

Despite Aberdeen's 2-1 victory at Pittodrie narrowing Celtic's lead at the top of the league to three points, Deila believes his team has the strength of character to win a fifth successive title.

He acknowledged that fans reacted angrily to the defeat, which came after Sunday's League Cup semi-final loss to County.

However, he maintains that Celtic are still in a strong position.

"I will never quit," he said. "This is a fantastic job and I see great opportunities here.

"The dream is to get into the Champions League and we have to win the league.

"There is a lot to play for and we will stick to what we believe in. There is a lot of quality in this team."

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes still makes Celtic favourites to retain the title - and Deila agrees.

"We lost the game and now we're not in as good a situation as we could be, but the situation is positive, everything is still in our hands and there are a lot of games still to come," said the Norwegian.

"We are very eager and motivated to win the next game."

Deila said he could understand Celtic fans being upset by the consecutive defeats.

"They have big ambition as well for the club," he said. "They're disappointed, but the fans stood behind the team for the whole game.

"The important thing is everybody standing together, that we are one team, because everybody wants to beat Celtic.

"Of course I want to be loved, like everybody else, but I understand that people are irritated and want to have better results.

"To win the league is an absolute must. I believe that we can do this and we're going to fight for it this season."

Deila felt his players were "weak" in the County defeat, but he is backing his squad to cope with the closing stretch of the season.

"I never said mental weakness," he explained. "I said that we were not good enough in the two boxes, that's what we need to get better at.

"We'll deal with it, you have to deal with defeats.

"It's never happened before that we've lost two games in a row.

"Now we have to do everything to make sure it's not three. I feel very confident that we're going to turn it around."