John Kennedy

Celtic

Kennedy came through Celtic'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 final to Aberdeen. In the 2003–04 season, he had a run in the Celtic starting eleven and came under scrutiny from scouts of A.C. Milan who contacted Celtic about making a move. It was during this season that Kennedy scored his only goal for Celtic, against Dundee in the SPL. Kennedy received high praise for his performance in a 0–0 draw with Barcelona in a UEFA Cup last-16 clash at the Camp Nou 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 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 win that season. 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…

After retiring as a player, Kennedy became a first-team scout 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 and cup double in 2011–12 and 2012–13 and a third straight title in 2013–14. Kennedy also oversaw the Under-19 team competing 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 Ronny Deila as manager, winning the Scottish league championship in each of Deila's two seasons in charge, as well as the Scottish League Cup in 2014–15. He continued in the role under Brendan Rodgers from 2016, and Celtic won domestic trebles in both 2016–17 and 2017–18. In February 2019, Kennedy was promoted to assistant manager when Neil Lennon replaced Rodgers as manager. After the resignation of Lennon in February 2021, Kennedy was appointed interim manager of Celtic; he remained in post until the end of the season.

Kennedy remained assistant manager under Ange Postecoglou from 2021 to 2023 and Brendan Rodgers from 2023 to 2025. In October 2025, when Rodgers resigned, Kennedy left Celtic after 27 years, having won 22 trophies at the club.

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.

John Kennedy was born on 18 August 1983 in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire. He is the maternal grandson of Celtic and Manchester United forward Jimmy Delaney and nephew of Motherwell defender Pat Delaney.