The Celtic Star Editor asked John Kennedy about the three managers he’s worked with who have all contributed to Celtic’s second Nine-in-a-Row and what lessons he’s learned from Ronny Deila, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon that can help him in his current role as Celtic’s Interim Manager. You can listen to this on one of the various Celtic podcasts who were in attendance at the inaugural Celtic Fan Media Conference on Friday and hopefully Celtic TV will post to You Tube too.
John Kennedy answered one question each from the three Celtic Fan Media websites – including The Celtic Star – and around 8 podcasts and across the board, as we have already said, was very impressive. If he’s not going to get the job, then there are certainly very good reasons for Kennedy to retain his assistant managers job and work with a fourth Celtic manager.
Here’s what he had to say to The Celtic Star about Ronny Deila, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon…
JOHN KENNEDY ON RONNY DEILA – “A VERY GOOD COACH, HE LOVED TO BE INVOLVED IN THE TRAINING”
John Kennedy: Yeah, I’ll start back with Ronny. When he came in I had been taking the reserves and what was lacking at the club at that time was probably a need for someone who could identify with, knew the club and knew the players, knew the staff. And having come through the Academy, both as a player as a coach myself, it was a case of how can we pull these talents up? How can we get them around first team as much as possible?
And I’m one who is very much about that in terms of I want to give them that opportunity. I was given the opportunity at a young age, several other players I played with who played here, were given that opportunity. So opportunity is massive at the right time, and for the right players, and the ones who show that they are capable.
So that was part of the planning behind coming up to work with Ronny, who I got on very well with and he also had a keen eye in terms of the pulling through the best young players to be part of it.
So again with Ronny, he was very clear. He’s very good coach, he was a good coach on the pitch, and loved to be involved in the training. He was very clear, when he first came in that he wanted to play 433 and ultimately the squad probably at a time didn’t always quite fit that, we had a couple of number tens and stuff so again being adaptable you have to adapt to that.
He was very motivated, good energy about him, and a good coach. I thought that in the second half of his first season, we started to really show his style, in terms of being very aggressive in pressing, a lot of counter attacking in terms of winning the ball in really positive situations.
And bringing the clarity to go and attack and defend together. So I felt it in my experience of Celtic that, going into second season, when you don’t qualify for the Champions League, there’s always a cloud comes over for a period, and it’s how quickly you can come out of that.
And if you don’t come out of it quickly, it can drag on a bit, you know, certainly a knock on effect. So I think that was was noticeable in that second season. Confidence dipped a bit and things just didn’t quite work out. But you know, terrific guy, very honest guy, good coach. You know, and it’s great to see that he’s, he’s gone on and working in New York knows well.
JOHN KENNEDY ON BRENDAN RODGERS – ‘SOMEONE OF THAT CALIBRE WALK IN WAS TERRIFIC’
John Kennedy: So after that we had Brendan, who I think it speaks for itself in terms of his CV and what he has. Excellent, not only as a coach, but as a person, really got everybody’s interests at heart, makes everyone feel very much part of and you felt that from early on in terms of coming in, it was very much he had.arrived.
It was Brendan Rodgers who had arrived, this big name but certainly in the training, in the way he’d run the club, it was wasn’t about him, it was about creating a real together togetherness and a culture that is there to help everyone.
And so for me personally, getting to see someone of that calibre walk in was terrific. I got very close to him, we got fairly close together,. In terms of his decision making, it was always very clear. And there’s one thing about Brendan he has a unbelievable confidence, you know, in terms of how he conducts himself in the way he makes decisions.
He has an amazing talent of getting everyone on the same page and amazing talent of getting the best out of people. And that’s, again, away from coaching, is great. Now when you’re a coach or a manager psychologically is a huge part of it as well because players have to, especially nowadays, need to feel that you will help them and that you’re there for their good.
Brendan a great knack of hooking people in getting them on board and part of the process. So great guy in terms of his in-game management, very decisive, you know, having been involved in them and you may be in the back foot a little bit, automatically he’d think we how do we try block this up a bit more. He would do something like go get striker on, bang, something like that. Very decisive very clear in what he wanted, and a terrific manager to work with, I still speak to him a lot, and have a really good relationship with him.
Brendan is very honest, very open and probably one of the best.
JOHN KENNEDY ON NEIL LENNON – A SERIAL WINNER, IT’S HIT HIM HARDER THAN ANYONE ELSE, TRUST ME
And obviously Neil, again. I knew Neil from my time as a player, and I was the reserve coach, when he was the manager the first time around. Neil’s biggest skill was his motivation to win. And he made it very clear to the players in terms of being part of Celtic. He was very good at telling the Celtic story, and this is what it means to play for the club, and really driving that motivation.
He was very clear on that and the expectation, the standards, Neil was a serial winner, you know it’s been a tough season, but he would do anything to win. He would do long hours in here, in terms of that drive in game. Ultimately he wanted good performances. But he knew what winning meant to Celtic and you’ve got to continually win here to be successful.
And I know having spoken to him over the past week, and even over the time, the season, it’s hit him really hard in terms of not getting the results not getting the performances and just the way things were things went. It’s hit harder than, than anybody else. Trust me. so great guy, I have great respect for him. An excellent motivator, excellent. Very direct in terms of he wants the teams to play with a very high tempo and being aggressive in the play.
But ultimately, you know, when things don’t work out, at a club like this then, you know, things happen. And so he decided to step away from that. And, you know, we respect that fully as well.
Hopefully the Celtic Fam Media Conference is here to stay. Respect to all three managers and to John Kennedy and the other coaches who were all involved in Celtic’s historic second Nine-in-a-Row, which incidentally we still have to celebrate when we are back together at Celtic Park. Remarkably it has been one year to the day since that last happened.
🎙️ The Press Gang – John Kennedy and David Turnbull
📝 Unedited audio from today’s Press Conference featuring Kennedy and Turnbull.@Ginty1888 was in attendance and asked each a question:
🗣Quality of chances
🗣Footballing philosophyListen ⬇️https://t.co/RBXAgmI4GZ
— The Cynic (@90MinuteCynic) March 5, 2021
If Kennedy gets the job which is a possibility I hope to God he doesn’t apply anything he “learned” from Deila in his training or team selection duties otherwise we are in for a long wait till the next title.