The pressure is massive and builds every year but all we can do is embrace it
NEIL LENNON has already delivered a public endorsement of his assistant’s credentials to take over as Celtic boss. But even if he never officially ascends to the throne, John Kennedy will always be able to say he managed his beloved club for a few hours.
A year ago this Wednesday, Brendan Rodgers and the bulk of his coaching staff walked out on Celtic for Leicester City — and it was Kennedy who was left to rally a stunned squad as they absorbed the departure of a manager who had asked them to invest heart and soul in his personal vision for the club.
Although Celtic would quickly turn to Lennon, conveniently at a loose end after a messy departure from Hibs, it was Kennedy who faced the task of somehow focusing the players’ minds on a typically fraught midweek visit to play Hearts in Edinburgh.
Although Lennon’s interim appointment had been confirmed in time for him to take his place trackside at Tynecastle, it was Kennedy who delivered the game-plan for a match that was settled by a dramatic late goal from Odsonne Edouard.
In many respects he has continued to fulfil that same hands-on role for the past 12 months. Appointed as Lennon’s fully-fledged assistant, he was central to the completion of a domestic Treble and he has been a prominent presence in the current
absorbing campaign that has already yielded one trophy, with another three to play for.
As the club contests the second leg of its Europa League tie against FC Copenhagen, Kennedy will scarcely have time to reflect on his brief stint holding it all together, but he is quite evidently thriving on the added responsibility.
‘The past year has been great,’ he smiles. ‘There have been a lot of challenges, especially with the changing dynamic and how it all unfolded last February.
‘But the response we got from everybody in-house, the response Neil has had from the players, has been really good.
‘We had a challenging time towards the end of last season. We managed to get over the line and get the domestic Treble again and we have had a great first half to this season.
‘I love it. I’ve enjoyed every role I’ve had at this club. This one comes with different responsibilities.’
Working with Lennon has not been a new experience per se but the dynamic between the two is much changed from the days when, as a young defender, Kennedy first moved up from the reserves to join Martin O’Neill’s first-team squad.
Although calm and measured by nature, Kennedy needed to be strong to hold his own in a dressing-room patrolled by steely types like Chris Sutton, Henrik Larsson and the current manager of the club.
A cruciate knee injury sustained on his Scotland debut meant he would never assume similar playing status but after his early retirement he set about diligently building an alternative career that would ultimately return him to the frontline.
Still only 36, he progressed from the role of scout to development coach during Lennon’s first spell in charge and then gained promotion to the backroom staffs of Ronny Deila and Rodgers.
He could have joined Rodgers at Leicester but opted to remain and continue his education under Lennon, a firebrand as a player and also an occasionally volatile managerial operator as recently as during his time at Hibs.
Curiously, there has been a mellower Lennon at work this season even in strained circumstances. The club’s pursuit of a ninth title in a row — a precursor to the holy grail of ‘the 10’ — has brought new levels of tension, especially as Rangers have threatened to make a proper challenge for the championship for the first time since Lennon began the sequence back in 2012.
There have been flashpoints — the normally mild-mannered Kennedy exchanged words with his Rangers counterpart Michael Beale at the end of defeat to the Ibrox club in December — but, unusually, Lennon has largely stayed out of the drama.
‘He is certainly calmer than I remember him being all those years ago,’ says Kennedy. ‘He blames me and Damien Duff for that, mind you. He says: “You two make me calm!”.
‘Everyone is well prepared. There are no real surprises along the way in terms of the way we work.
‘It’s all about preparation. When the hectic moments arrive, you trust that everything is in place and the group are able to handle that.
‘There is massive pressure. I have been here the whole time and I have seen it build every year. In this moment, there is huge pressure on the players and the manager. But he does well to hide it and is a calming influence throughout the week.
‘But Neil still has the fire in his belly, that raw emotion which is part of his make-up. He is fiery when he needs to be, so it’s a good balance.’
First-time around, Lennon surrounded himself with pals and peers like Johan Mjallby, Alan Thompson and Garry Parker as he learned on the job. They made a good fist of it too, sweeping up three titles and two Scottish Cups in four seasons, even if Thompson dropped out along the way.
This time round, Lennon has inherited the in-house team of Kennedy and Duff, the latter only having arrived at the club as reserve manager the previous month.
Under Rodgers, Kennedy absorbed as much as he could as the former Liverpool boss set in place a detailed methodology that raised standards of preparation.
If Lennon is more old school, his partnership with Kennedy has allowed the club to retain much of the ethos that drove the improvement in fortunes under Rodgers.
Kennedy is happy to shoulder that burden but defers to Lennon’s ability to change the dynamic when match day rolls round.
‘Neil has allowed us to do a lot on the training pitch, to deliver a lot of sessions and take a lot of meetings with the players,’ reveals Kennedy.
‘He will oversee everything, step in and out, and then on match days he really comes too life.
‘He is great with the players, honest and up front with them and he has a great relationship with them. He has been good for me to work with too.
‘In terms of psychology, he is great — pushing the players, making them aware of the expectations of being a Celtic player.
‘But he tends to take it up a few gears on a match day and that’s when he is really in his element.’
In this respect, Lennon sounds very much like a descendant of O’Neill, who would famously leave the week’s heavy lifting to Steve Walford and John Robertson before delivering his man-management to maximum effect in team talks.
Yet Lennon also remains in regular contact with Gordon Strachan, O’Neill’s successor and a training ground obsessive closer to Rodgers in style.
‘Neil has a bit of Martin in him but he has his own style,’ observes Kennedy. ‘When he is out on the pitch and wants to step in and do a bit of coaching, he has that in him.
‘He ticks most of the boxes. But certainly you see around match time that his juices get going and it’s showtime.’
Neil is a lot calmer than he used to be but he still has that fire in his belly