Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Hoops caretaker insists ‘flak’ isn’t putting him off Paradise top job
Fergie: Foxes’ Ex-hoops boss can help Stevie
JOHN KENNEDY insists seeing several Celtic managers suffering severe flak hasn’t put him off his dream of being a gaffer.
The Hoops interim boss remains adamant he is not thinking about his long term position at Parkhead but has not hid his desire to be the main man in the dugout.
But Kennedy has had a ringside view as a succession of gaffers have been on the end of stinging criticism after being part of backroom staff for Ronny Deila,
(inset) Brendan
Rodgers and Neil
Lennon.
Norwegian Deila got heat despite winning the league, Rodgers suffered a huge backlash after he walked out for Leicester and Lennon had been the target of protests before he eventually quite earlier this week.
Ahead of today’s clash with Aberdeen, Kennedy insisted he can handle stepping up to the hotseat – and he isn’t scared of the pressure the position brings as he has also been criticised by sections of the support.
He said: “Does it put me off? Not really. It’s a tough gig at Celtic. There are very high standards and high demands. At times some of the criticism can be harsh.
“I’m not just talking about this season. Everyone sees things differently and has an opinion, which is fine.
“It’s par for the course in the job. The closer you get to the first team the more visible you are. Every performance and result can be scrutinised.
“But we need to trust in what we belief in. If you listen to too many voices and opinions you can start to doubt things.
“I’ve always approached it with the view I love challenges. “This has been the most challenging season I’ve had in my coaching career.
Kennedy is refusing to bite on talk about taking charge permanently – or his place at the club after the inevitable summer rebuild.
He said: “I want to restore pride and get some spirit around the club, but beyond that I haven’t given any thought to myself.
“Is is an audition? Honestly don’t see it like that. I even spoke to the players in that respect.
“This is not a time about me, in terms of what are my ambitions and what might come out of this for me?
“I have been given the responsibility as interim manager but even this week, I haven’t sat down and looked at myself as being that.”
BARRY FERGUSON reckons Steven Gerrard should ask Brendan Rodgers to help him plot the downfall of Slavia Prague after Rangers were drawn against them in the Europa League 16.
The Scottish champions-elect were paired with the Czech league leaders in yesterday’s draw in Nyon after they sent Rodgers’ high-flying Foxes crashing out of the competition.
The legendary captain, who led the Light Blues to their last Euro final in the 2008 UEFA Cup, said: “I’m sure Steven Gerrard would pick up the phone to Brendan Rodgers to get his opinon on Slavia Prague. It would certainly cross my mind if I knew someone who could maybe help me.
“Rangers would have a dossier on Slavia Prague within 10 minutes of the draw being made and they’ll gather more information in the coming days.
“But I don’t think Steven Gerrard would think twice about asking Brendan Rodgers. Forget the fact he’s an ex-celtic manager – the pair of them worked together at
Liverpool and these things happen all the time in football.
“It’s not as if he is the Celtic manager just now and British bosses would all try and help each other.
“Slavia Prague knocked Leicester City out and they’re flying high in the English Premier League so they clearly won’t be last-16 pushovers.
“However, when I was looking at the teams in the hat then Slavia Prague and Molde were probably the two that jumped out as being a favourable draw. In a sense these games can be more dangerous because if you draw one of the big guns then there’s no chance of complacency.
“Yes it’s a good draw for Rangers but you can’t be overconfident.
“The win over Leicester City is all they need to warn them of their quality but let’s not forget that a lot of teams would have wanted to avoid Rangers.”
It’s not as if he is the Celtic boss any longer and British bosses will always help each other out
PATRICK BAMFORD claims he still gets trolled over his dive to get Aston Villa’s Anwar El Ghazi sent off two years ago.
Bamford went down pretending he had been hit in the face by El Ghazi during the melee following Leeds’ hugelycontroversial goal in the 1-1 draw at Elland Road, with the Villa striker dismissed (the incident plays out, above).
El Ghazi’s red card was overturned on appeal and Bamford was hit with a two-match ban for deceiving the referee.
The Leeds striker has apologised for his behaviour and says he still gets mocked on social media.
Tonight will be the first time the sides have met at Elland Road since that infamous clash and Bamford said: “I still get sent flipping GIFS and memes of me falling on the floor from that game and I’m, ‘Come on, let it go, I’m so sorry’.”
Villa were incensed by Mateusz Klich’s goal and had stopped playing, thinking Leeds were going to knock the ball out of play because Jonathan Kodjia was down injured.
Marcelo Bielsa won a FIFA Fair Play award for ordering Leeds to let Villa equalise straight from the restart to calm the volatile situation, and Bamford (right) says there has been a real rivalry between the clubs since.
“It seems like over the last couple of years we have become rivals with Villa, I don’t know why,” he told the latest edition of the
Official
Leeds United Podcast. “Maybe it’s that whole thing I did with that stupid dive, and we had to give them a goal and that kicked it off.
“That was one game, surely you let go of that?” Three of Bamford’s 13 Premier League goals came against Villa at Villa Park in October, and he has been denied a couple more by contentious VAR offside calls against Wolves and Crystal Palace. Bamford feels football’s lawmakers need to review VAR and the offside rule because too many goals are being disallowed by hairline decisions. “Looking at mine at Wolves, the linesman gives it offside, you go to VAR and have a look at it and the line drawn to my knee seems to be diagonal, and the line drawn to the guy’s heel seems to be straight down,” he added.
“There’s no consistency and how can you be 100 per cent certain?
“The camera angle was not parallel to where I was on the pitch, it’s looking back.
“I was flicking through Twitter trying to find a still of the image and saw one guy tweet that if you are fouled outside the penalty box, and your feet are outside the penalty box but your knee is inside, it’s not a penalty, it’s a free-kick.
“So if your feet are behind the offside line, then surely you should use the same rule.
“It’s been brought in to try to make the game better, but everyone wants to see goals, and I think it’s denying more goals than it’s giving.”