John Kennedy is a candidate for the Celtic Sporting Director role, according to The Scottish Sun. Kennedy, who is currently the interim manager, is one of the candidates for the newly created position as Dominic McKay looks to herald in a new era at Celtic Park. The 37-year-old is highly regarded by the Celtic board and it is hoped that he will remain at the club to work with likely manager, Eddie Howe.
The report claims that Eddie Howe is on course to replace Neil Lennon as the next permanent manager of the club and that a deal could be done to have Kennedy remain at the club but work on sporting strategy as opposed to day-to-day coaching. Fergal Harkin is another name that has been thrown about in terms of the next Sporting Director.
Kennedy’s chances of becoming Celtic manager appeared to evaporate completely as a lacklustre Celtic passed up chances and conceded two really poor goals to lose the Scottish Cup game to Rangers. It was typical of Celtic’s season. He will be hoping to leave his spell as interim boss on a high with a win over Rangers at Ibrox. There are three games remaining and nine points may soften the blow of a season behind closed doors, a season to forget.
Howe meanwhile is said to be working behind the scenes, looking to recruit his backroom team for a move to Glasgow. Although, it may appear that unless there are two vacancies for one Director of Football as well as a Head of Recruitment, Richard Hughes won’t be joining Howe in Glasgow. The 43-year-old former Cherries manager is expected to pick up a salary of £2m should the proposed move to Glasgow proceed without fault.
I know this is just updating with comments from the sun but I’m not sure where they get the idea that Kennedy has developed an extensive enough little black book of contacts which might rival someone like Harkin or Hughes. Why would an interim manager who has always been an assistant manager then become the boss of the incoming new manager, who will need and be expecting said figure to have extensive networking to get the right people in and build the team again? It’s ludicrous but it shows how far they are from knowing what’s going on with us