Wilfried Nancy will go down as one of Celtic’s worst-ever managers.
That eight-game spell was a nightmare for all involved, including the man himself, who was sacked after 33 days by Celtic at the start of January.
But Darren O’Dea thinks life could have been different for Nancy had he kept John Kennedy as part of his coaching staff.
Kennedy left Celtic in October, alongside Brendan Rodgers, after over two decades of service, and it did surprise many, with O’Dea explaining that ‘everything ran through’ the Celtic legend behind the scenes.
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What message would you send to John Kennedy after his contribution to Celtic’s successes? Let us know in the comments.
Wilfried Nancy should have used John Kennedy at Celtic
Speaking on Open Goal, O’Dea was ‘100%’ certain Nancy would have fared better with someone like Kennedy beside him.
Kennedy is now in Saudi Arabia, working alongside Rodgers again at Al-Qadisiyah, and O’Dea is confident to state that the Scotsman is ‘ready to be a manager.’
Si Ferry: “Do you think if Nancy had kept Kennedy, things would have been different?”
O’Dea: “Yeah, 100%.”
Andy Halliday: “I think the players had a really good rapport with John Kennedy.”
O’Dea: “Everything ran through (Kennedy). It was because he was good. But it also came because he was there for a long time. He won a lot of things. Built relationships.
“My biggest thing was when I was looking at Wilfried Nancy, ‘You need someone on your shoulder that knows what’s going on.’
“Where I think he came in, and naturally, you would think I would get my time to build into it. It wasn’t going to happen.”
Ferry: “Is John Kennedy a top coach?”
O’Dea: “Yeah, yeah. His organisation is top. He has now obviously been around Brendan and Ange. He has been around a lot of good managers.
“Bear in mind, when you are at that level, you are around top-level sports science. Nutritionist. Recruitment, whatever it may be.
“John is a manager. He’s ready to be a manager. It’s just whenever he takes the plunge into doing that. I am sure he will have plenty of offers. He’s very good at what he does.”
What has Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic tenure done to your expectations for the Hoops’ next appointment?
O’Dea wasn’t surprised that Celtic appointed Nancy
Celtic have gone left-field before with their managerial appointments. Everyone remembers the stick Ange Postecoglou got in 2021. The Treble-winning coach went on to become a Celtic legend.
O’Dea explained that he wasn’t surprised by Nancy replacing Rodgers, even though it went horribly wrong, because it’s the norm for the champions of Scotland to go down such a road.
Ferry: “Were you surprised when Nancy got the job?”
O’Dea: “No, not really. I didn’t know. I thought that is the mould Celtic would go down. It will be off, ‘this is the way football works these days.’
“There will be data metrics put in. They will have managers who will filter into this. You could see how a manager of his ilk would fit at Celtic, in terms of maybe dominating the ball.
“But people talk about the level. I think players are getting bought from Scandinavia all the time. Nobody would bat an eyelid if we got a manager from Norway or Denmark, so I wasn’t surprised when he came in.
“His first few interviews, I thought, ‘Yeah, you’re not reading the room here.’ I felt sorry for him because he was coming into an absolute mess.”
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