John Kennedy’s timid approach to interim Celtic reign has made club’s problems even worse

Add as preferred source on Google

John Kennedy’s reign as interim Celtic manager should have been a huge opportunity for him, and for the club.

There was certainly some discontent that Kennedy even stayed on after Neil Lennon’s resignation.

The more hopeful among us were content to give him a chance though. I make no apology for that. We needed someone else in that dugout, regardless of who it was.

However, Kennedy has squandered the chance provided by the fresh start.

It should have been a period of building towards next season, giving fringe players a chance and perhaps evening blooding one or through youngsters through into the starting eleven.

Instead, Kennedy has persisted with the same chancers that threw away our bid for ten-in-a-row in the first place. Even when players are literally signing up to join lesser clubs, such as Scott Brown, he’s failed to give others a chance.

We’re no closer to understanding whether big club investments such as Albian Ajeti, Ismaila Soro and Vasilis Barkas are up for the battle next season.

Loan players such as Diego Laxalt, Jonjoe Kenny and Mohamed Elyounoussi have underperformed, yet we haven’t given game time to others in their positions who will be at the club for European qualifiers this summer.

Kennedy’s mantra throughout this period has been to focus on the next game, prepare the team for that match and stick out the strongest team possible. He’s admitted that in press briefings.

Yet that short-sightedness was one of the reasons many wanted to be rid of Lennon in the first place. Our season was effectively over in January. It was clear thought had to be given to preparing some players for next season.

Kennedy wasn’t brave enough for that, it seems. Whether it was self-preservation or whether he simply has zero faith in the wider squad we’ll likely never know. One thing is for sure though, relying on the same old favourites hasn’t paid off.

Celtic are now in an even worse position than we were when Lennon left. That’s unforgivable and one of the principle reasons Kennedy cannot be given a prominent role at the club moving forward.

Elsewhere on 67 Hail Hail, Jonjoe Kenny joins Shane Duffy and Diego Laxalt on the Celtic loan scrapheap.