Ronny Deila has confirmed that John Kennedy will be part of his new look management team.
Kennedy will be given a still to be specified first team role after working with the u-19 and u-20 side’s alongside Stevie Frail for the last three seasons.
Speaking yesterday the new Celtic boss revealed: “In the beginning, John Kennedy is going to be a part of it. He’s a boy who has talent and he’s part of the club, what position we don’t know yet. I’m delighted he’s here. He gives me energy when I talk with him and that’s good.”
Kennedy will be able to guide Deila towards the best of Celtic’s young prospects following the promotion of Darnell Fisher and Liam Henderson last season.
After being forced to retire from playing due to an injury picked up 10 minutes into his Scotland debut Kennedy was initially involved in helping out with Celtic’s scouting operations but moved into frontline coaching in 2011.
Part of that job included the Next Gen Series, which was replaced by the officially backed UEFA u-19 Champions League competition which saw Kennedy and Frail face Barcelona, Ajax and AC Milan who were managed by new San Siro boss Filippo Inzaghi.
In each of his three seasons with the u-19 and u-20 side’s Kennedy delivered championships with two SFA Youth Cup success also on his CV.
The change from u-19 to u-20 was a significant move with clubs also allowed to field three overage outfield players as well as an overage goalkeeper.
Celtic rarely went down that road, preferring to promote their younger players with u-17’s such as Joe Thomson playing regularly at u-20 level.
