Pundit Steven Naismith has recently made a big claim about the future of John Kennedy and his situation at Celtic.
On the latest episode of PLZ Soccer’s The Football Show, the panel talked about numerous issues involving Scottish football and the Hoops. They also talked about Kennedy and his future at Celtic and how players perceive the Scotsman.
Naismith revealed that Celtic players do like Kennedy and he’s not heard a single player from Celtic complain about the Scotsman’s coaching. He also believes that the director of football role might be something that Kennedy fancies.
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Naismith also believes that Kennedy knows how to get the best out of players on the training pitch.
The Scotsman was heavily linked with a move to Hibernian back in 2019, but Neil Lennon later revealed that he talked him out of the job and tipped him to manage Celtic in the future. As things stand, he indeed is the interim manager until the end of the campaign.
Naismith talked about Kennedy and stated: “I’d have said when John went into coaching, a lot of the coaching side and management side has now filtered into that director of football. It might be something that he likes and there might be a lot of aspects of it. But from the bits I know about John Kennedy, I know that he’d never entertain the job if he never thought he was good enough for it, it’s the first thing.
“In terms of his coaching, in my time going away with Scotland or speaking to any other boys at Celtic, I’ve not heard one player have a bad word to say about his coaching. Not as a guy, but as his coaching. They seem to like it. He gets the best out of players in the training pitch. That’ll carry a lot of weight.
“On top of that, there was a time when he was potentially going to Hibs. That’s a pathway in the past that he’s looked to go down. If he moves to another club, I think he’d be a high target for a lot of clubs. He ticks a lot of boxes. He’s got a lot of experience at a demanding club. The players seem to like what he does.”
TIF Thoughts on John Kennedy…
Naismith’s comments give a rather positive view of Kennedy’s abilities and considering that, it’s barely a doubt that Hibs wanted him and that Celtic have had him work in various capacities over the years.
Having said that, Kennedy was part of Celtic’s coaching staff in the campaign, as they failed to win the Premiership title and the club’s fans even held protests against Peter Lawwell, Lennon and Dermot Desmond. Kennedy’s name has perhaps been attached to the season as well, so perhaps Celtic fans might not want him as manager.
His Celtic side failed to beat Rangers in the Scottish Cup recently too. So perhaps Celtic shouldn’t look to appoint Kennedy as the permanent boss.
In other news: ‘Will offer £4m or £5m’ – Journalist drops claim on rival player potentially joining Celtic