KENNEDY IS THE HEIR APPARENT
Lennon sees No. 2 as the man to take over the manager’s chair at Celtic Park
Neil Lennon has identified John Kennedy as a future manager of Celtic.
His No. 2 was recently sounded out by Hibs about succeeding the sacked
Paul Heckingbottom.
Lennon persuaded the 36-year-old to go nowhere, and believes the Hoops will be the big beneficiaries from that decision.
“John came to see me about it, and I gave him short shrift!” said Lennon.
“I told him: ‘Look, I am not surprised by this, but you are just too important to what we are doing here. You know your time will come’.”
Gauntlet laid down.
Rangers will have the chance to replace Neil Lennon’s side at the top of the Premier League table today when they tackle Hamilton Accies today.
However, such was the swaggering nature of their rivals’ win here, they will need to win by at least six clear goals to do so.
“At the minute, it feels like a proper title race,” said the Celtic manager.
“I think you either relish it or fear it. So I relish it.
“As far as I am concerned, it’s great. Maybe it is something new for some of the players, but I feel they are taking on the challenge well and I think the fans are enjoying it as well.
“There will be anxious moments as we go along, dips and troughs because there can always be a below par performance around the corner. We are prepared for that.
“But we are in a strong position currently and playing brilliantly.
“Psychologically that’s a good win for us. We can enjoy our Sunday, you get 24 hours to enjoy, see what the result brings then you move on to the next one.”
Having beaten Celtic at the Tony Macaroni Arena just a month ago, Livingston looked confident enough in the opening exchanges.
A momentary lapse in concentration, though, was to cost them dear.
Tom Rogic chipped a pass forward down Celtic’s left, Ricki Lamie misjudged his attempt to clear and Odsonne Edouard stole in to open the scoring with a typically cool finish.
They couldn’t say they hadn’t been warned, the Australian having already teed up Callum McGregor with a neat flick at the edge of the box.
The Scotland midfielder had been alive to the opportunity but failed to get sufficient power in his effort.
If Livingston were dispirited by the setback they didn’t show it.
They kept their shape and continued to push forward where possible, Steven Lawless keeping Fraser Forster honest with a speculative shot on the turn.
Celtic did grow in confidence, though, with Jeremie Frimpong – memorably described as an “amazing” player who has made the team better by his manager - becoming ever bolder with his darts down the right.
One such burst, which left Aaron Taylor-Sinclair trailing in his wake, should really have led to a second.
The fullback laid the ball perfectly into Rogic’s path who blazed over from just a few yards out.
It didn’t matter much. Celtic wasted little time stretching their lead on their return after the break with a goal that was more than little fortuitous.
Ryan Christie rolled a pass into Scott Brown’s path whose low shot went flying past Livi keeper Marija Sarkic with the aid of a sizable deflection off Jon Guthrie.
Two became three when James Forrest showed decent alertness to track the ball in the air from Sarkic’s save off the on-song Frimpong and volley home before it hit the ground.
Injuries to Jonny Hayes, who will require a scan on his shoulder, and Odsonne Edouard led to the introduction of Greg Taylor and, to sustained applause, Leigh Griffiths. The latter looked lively enough but it was Forrest who was sharpest on the day and he grabbed his second and his side’s fourth when running on to Christie’s pass to shoot low in at the near post.
It was Livingston’s seventh defeat in their last ten games but manager Gary Holt wasn’t despondent.
“I know everyone will pick up the papers and look at it as 4-0 but I thought we were well in the game,” he said.
“Sometimes when you come here, and they score the goals they can do, you say ‘fair enough’.
“Today I just thought individual mistakes at times in the game cost us.
“For effort and commitment and all the things you look for, team shape, being brave at times in possession, I thought we had.
“But, you take the goals out the game, they never cut us open too many times and bent one in from 20-yards or scored the world class goals they score.”