FROM BHOY TO MAN
KENNY DALGLISH IMPRESSED BY KENNEDY’S CALM
JOHN KENNEDY’S inherently calm demeanour has been a welcome constant for Celtic as an avalanche of uncertainty and speculation continues to engulf the club.
The wisdom the 37-year-old is able to bring to a trying situation is in many ways a consequence of a long-standing commitment to coaching that only began when a promising playing career was brutally and prematurely ended.
Forced to quit the game in 2009 aged just 26 — the eventual consequence of a sickening foul in a game between Scotland and Romania — Kennedy moved into scouting then into coaching with Celtic’s under-age sides.
Showing a natural aptitude for the role, he moved on to firstteam duties in 2014, gaining the trust of Ronny Deila, Neil Lennon and Brendan Rodgers.
When Lennon vacated the manager’s chair for the second time in February, Kennedy’s promotion to interim boss was a natural step.
His reputation now precedes him. Eddie Howe has never crossed paths with the Scot but apparently sees him as an integral part of his backroom staff should his appointment be confirmed in the coming weeks.
To the mind of the man who handed Kennedy his debut as a 16-year-old against Motherwell 21 years ago this month, it won’t just be the former defender’s long-standing links with the club that will determine this.
Kenny Dalglish believes Kennedy’s handling of the situation he inherited two months ago has been exemplary.
Himself an interim manager after the departure of John Barnes in 2000, the Parkhead icon can relate to the difficulty of picking up the pieces when the air is filled with nothing but questions.
‘I think he has handled it well,’ said Dalglish. ‘He has been there for a while. I gave him his debut when he was 16 years of age.
‘He had to finish early because of a knee injury, but on the coaching side of it he was there when Brendan was there, he was there through Lenny.
‘He has done a good job just now as manager and has gone four games undefeated.
‘I don’t know if John’s name is in the hat. That is up to Celtic. But he has certainly not let them down in any way, shape or form.’ Another week of heightened expectation has done little to clarify the overall picture. That Dominic McKay’s start date has been brought forward from July 1 to April 19 is welcome, although he will not formally take over Peter Lawwell’s chief executive role until the first of those dates. Howe, we now know, is likely to return to management soon and there is every chance it will be at Celtic Park. But that won’t happen until the summer — a timeframe that leaves many uneasy.
With the restructuring of the club believed to be a bone of contention in talks, the largest overhaul of the playing squad in living memory is no closer to being addressed.
Dalglish (left) can readily appreciate the growing sense of impatience among the fans.
‘It is a difficult situation that Celtic find themselves in,’ he added. ‘They have got a whole scenario to reconsider.
‘They have solved the problem with Peter Lawwell retiring by
“He’s handled it well. John has done a good job and he’s four games undefeated”
bringing in the boy from rugby (McKay) earlier than was announced at first.
‘That makes sense because by the close season, if they have appointed the manager by then, they will be looking for players.
‘But then they have got to appoint a director of football. Who comes first? The director of football or the management team?
‘After that, whoever is appointed as manager has got to appoint a captain, which might not be too difficult.
‘But Browny (Scott Brown) is a hell of a man to have to replace on the pitch when you consider the success he has had at Celtic. That is a big job as well. I don’t think Dermot (Desmond) will have a quiet summer. The work will have started already.
‘The frustration for people is they want to know yesterday who the manager is going to be.
‘But Dermot, quite rightly, will take his time, analyse who he needs, what he wants, how they go about it. And then, once the manager is appointed, it’s a question of who they should look to sign, who should they get in, who does he want in, what finances are there? It is a big close season.’
Amid so many challenges and so much change in such a short period of time, the value of someone like Kennedy to an incoming boss could be a huge plus. ‘That depends on the manager,’ said Dalglish. ‘Not everybody is the same, are they?
‘If you go out for your dinner, not everybody picks the same food.
‘The manager might want somebody who knows the club or he might want his own people.
‘Until you know who the manager is going to be and what he wants, it is really a question that is unanswerable.’
Without formally putting pen to paper, Howe has already indicated to Celtic that he likes what he hears.
The nagging concern for a support that is now largely sold on him is that an impasse over structures and staffing proves insurmountable.
How hard a bargain Howe is prepared to drive over the need to bring in Bournemouth’s technical director, Richard Hughes, with him, we shall know soon.
‘The first thing you have got to ascertain is: Has he been asked?’ Dalglish, a McDonald’s ambassador, said of Howe.
‘He has never said he has been asked. Everybody wants to get ahead of themselves. I think it is best if you just wait and see who has been approached and who is going to accept it before you start talking about what they are going to do.’
An ability to rhyme off the names of the Lisbon Lions need not be a deal-breaker. Dalglish, though, does feel that the next manager should need to demonstrate a full appreciation of the scale of the job they are about to undertake.
‘The most important thing is that you get the quality manager in that you think you need,’ he warned.
‘I think the most important thing — and Steven Gerrard has done it fantastically well, if you look back over what he has done — is not to underestimate Celtic.
‘Steven has never, ever underestimated Rangers, the size of the club. He had respect for the club, he had respect for the people who supported the club, everything about it.
‘He is appreciative in every way of how the people at Ibrox have supported him, both financially and otherwise. You can see that has done him no harm at all.
‘If you get somebody who knows what the club means, it is important. If you don’t know the history of Celtic Football Club, you have got problems right away.
‘It is a demanding job and they are right to be demanding. It is not an easy problem to solve because Rangers are miles ahead of Celtic at the moment.’ l Sir Kenny Dalglish is launching nominations for the 2021 Scottish FA Grassroots Awards, presented by McDonald’s. To nominate your grassroots hero, go to www.mcdonalds.co.uk/awards