John Kennedy (born 18 August 1983) is a Scottish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player who is the assistant manager of

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. Since retirement, Kennedy has served as a scout, first-team coach and assistant manager to

Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish football coach and former player. During his playing career he represented English clubs Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Leicester City. Lennon moved to Celtic in 2000, where he ...

Ronny Deila Ronny Deila (born 21 September 1975) is a Norwegian football manager and former player, who is the manager of Standard Liège. He spent most of his playing career at Odd before becoming head coach at Strømsgodset, winning the Norwegian Cup in ...

Brendan Rodgers Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Leicester City. Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed un ...

and

Ange Postecoglou Angelos Postecoglou ( el, Άγγελος Ποστέκογλου, ; born 27 August 1965) is an Australian association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Born in Greece, he moved ...

, respectively. He played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Celtic and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

, and won one international cap for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He suffered a serious knee injury on his international debut in March 2004, and retired in 2009 having failed to fully recover. Since retiring from playing, Kennedy has worked as a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

and a coach for Celtic. In February 2019, he was appointed assistant manager of the club, and he became caretaker manager in February 2021 after

left Celtic. After the appointment of Ange Postecoglou as manager, he went back to being assistant manager.

Early life

John Kennedy was born on 18 August 1983 in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire. He is the maternal grandson of Celtic and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

forward

Jimmy Delaney James Delaney (3 September 1914 – 26 September 1989) was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside right. He had a 24-year playing career interrupted by World War II, his longest spells at club level were spent with Celtic in Scotland a ...

and nephew of

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

defender Pat Delaney.

Playing career

Celtic

Kennedy came through

's youth system and signed his first professional contract on the same day as fellow defender Stephen McManus. He made his first-team debut aged 16 during the 1999–2000 season. Kennedy was the youngest Celtic player to be called up to the first-team squad and then the youngest debutant. He played in the U18 team in 2000–01, and lost the

Scottish Youth Cup The Scottish Youth Cup (also known as the SFA Youth Cup) is an annual Scottish football competition run by the Scottish Football Association for under-18 teams,

final to

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. In the 2003–04 season, he had a run in the Celtic starting eleven and came under scrutiny from scouts of

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

who contacted Celtic about making a move. It was during this season that Kennedy scored his only goal for Celtic, against

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

in the

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

. Kennedy received high praise for his performance in a 0–0 draw with

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

last-16 clash at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

in March 2004. Within weeks he was given his international debut, but was seriously injured by a dangerous tackle during that match. Kennedy required several operations by

Richard Steadman Dr. J. Richard Steadman (June 4, 1937 – January 20, 2023) was a pioneering orthopedic surgeon and founder of The Steadman Clinic and Steadman Philippon Research Institute (SPRI) located in Vail, Colorado. Dr. Steadman revolutionized orthopaedic ...

before he could even attempt a comeback. Following his injury, the SFA compensated Celtic with respect to Kennedy's wages, as it had been suffered while he was playing in an international match. Before his injury, Kennedy made enough appearances to qualify for a title medal and played twice in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, Kennedy finally resumed training in late 2006, and was an unused substitute for Celtic's Champions League match against A.C. Milan on 20 February 2007. He played his first competitive match since the injury on 22 April 2007, when Celtic clinched the SPL championship by winning 2–1 against

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

. Four days later, on 26 April, Kennedy signed a new three-year contract with the club. Kennedy made further appearances for Celtic over the next several months, but during a Champions League match against

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

on 28 November 2007, he was stretchered off after he twisted his knee on landing from an aerial challenge. The initial diagnosis was that he sustained damage to his

lateral meniscus The lateral meniscus (external semilunar fibrocartilage) is a fibrocartilaginous band that spans the lateral side of the interior of the knee joint. It is one of two meniscus (anatomy), menisci of the knee, the other being the medial meniscus. It ...

and the posterior lateral complex of the same knee he had previously injured, ruling him out for three months. This match proved to be Kennedy's final appearance for Celtic.

Norwich City (loan)

On 14 July 2008,

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

reported that Kennedy had joined

on a six-month loan deal, but this report was denied by Celtic later that day. Kennedy did, however, meet up with the Motherwell squad in Austria, on trial. Soon afterwards Kennedy joined

on loan until January 2009. He made his Norwich debut in a 2–0 defeat to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

at the

Ricoh Arena The Coventry Building Society Arena (often shortened to the CBS Arena or just simply Coventry Arena, and formerly known as the Ricoh Arena) is a complex in Coventry, England. It includes a 32,609-seater stadium which is currently home to footb ...

on 9 August 2008. Kennedy's performances for Norwich were impressive, and he scored in games with

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

and

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

Retirement

Kennedy suffered ankle ligament damage during his time at Norwich, and he returned to Celtic after further damaging his troubled knee in December 2008. On 13 November 2009, it was announced that, at the age of just 26, Kennedy had retired from football on medical grounds. He was awarded a Special Recognition award at Celtic FC end of season awards in 2010.

International

Kennedy played in both legs of the play-off defeat to Croatia U21s to qualify for the Under-21 Euros in 2003. He was the only remaining regular fit Scotland U21 centre-back going in to the second leg. His only goal at under-21 level came from a Michael Stewart set piece in a 2–1 against Israel U21s in 2002. Following fine performances for Celtic, Kennedy was called up to the

squad for a friendly against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

on 31 March 2004, and was selected to start the match. After 14 minutes, Kennedy sustained a serious injury to his leg after a late challenge by

Ionel Ganea Ioan Viorel Ganea (born 10 August 1973) is a Romanian football manager and striker for Liga IV Sibiu club A.S. Fotbal Club Dumbrăveni. Playing career Ganea debuted in Liga I (Divizia A at that time) with FC Brașov in 1994. He went on to pla ...

, which eventually ruled him out of action for almost three years.

Testimonial matches

A testimonial fixture for Kennedy between

and

was discussed, while a match between

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

and Celtic had been arranged for 28 November 2010, but was postponed. The game was then played on Sunday 6 March, with Celtic winning 4–1. A further testimonial match was arranged for Sunday 22 May 2011 at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

between Celtic and some of the Celtic team that reached the

2003 UEFA Cup Final The 2003 UEFA Cup Final was played on 21 May 2003 between Celtic of Scotland and Porto of Portugal. Porto won the match 3–2 in extra time thanks to a goal from Derlei. This was also the first game to use the silver goal rule, although it did no ...

, including then manager Martin O'Neill. This match was also postponed, and eventually replaced with a match between a team of Celtic Legends, managed by Martin O'Neill, and a team of Manchester United Legends. The match was played on 9 August 2011 with Celtic winning 5–2, and the proceeds were donated to Oxfam's East Africa charity appeal.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Kennedy became a first-team

for Celtic in 2010, working in this capacity for the club until 2011, travelling around Europe to help find new players for the club. Kennedy gained coaching qualifications and worked as a coach with the club's U19 squad in season 2011–12, and the Development Squad (reserve team) from 2012 to 2014. He led the Celtic youth team to a

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

double in 2011–12 and 2012–13 and a third straight title in 2013–14. Kennedy also oversaw the Under-19 team compete in the NextGen Series in 2011–12, a pan-European competition for youth teams. He became first-team coach in 2014 after the appointment of

as manager, winning the Scottish league championship in each of Deila's two seasons in charge, as well as the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

in 2014–15. He continued in the role under

from 2016, and Celtic won domestic trebles in both 2016–17 and 2017–18. In February 2019, Kennedy was promoted to assistant manager when

replaced Rodgers as manager. After the resignation of Neil Lennon in February 2021, Kennedy was appointed caretaker manager of Celtic.

Charity work

In the summer of 2010, Kennedy joined the board of Directors of the UK based charity Football Aid. Kennedy is also a patron of Les Hoey's Dreammaker Foundation.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Celtic *

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

: 2003–04, 2007–08

Manager

Celtic *

SPFL Development League The SPFL Development League was the top level of youth football in Scotland, which was contested in various formats between 1998 and 2018. History A youth league was founded as the Scottish Premier under-18 League in 1998. Clubs fielded under-1 ...

: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14 *

Scottish Youth Cup The Scottish Youth Cup (also known as the SFA Youth Cup) is an annual Scottish football competition run by the Scottish Football Association for under-18 teams,

: 2011–12, 2012–13

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, John 1983 births Living people Footballers from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Scottish footballers Association football defenders Celtic F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish Professional Football League managers Scotland under-21 international footballers Scotland B international footballers Scotland international footballers Association football coaches Association football scouts Celtic F.C. non-playing staff