Kennedy, John (2004- )

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Real name	John Kennedy
Height	6.01
Weight	12.06
Date of birth	18-08-1983
Place of birth	Bellshill
Position	Defender
Nationality	Scotland
Signed on	20-08-1999
Fee	Youth

Summary

John Kennedy (born 18/08/83 in Bellshill) is a product of Celtic’s Youth Academy and grandson of former Celtic great Jimmy Delaney. Considered by many to be one of the best prospects to emerge from Celtic Park in recent years, the young central defender’s progress has been dogged by a succession of career threatening knee injuries.

Signed as a 15 year old on the same day as teammate Stephen McManus, John Kennedy made his first team debut against Motherwell on 05/04/00 at the age of 16 years and 231 days - a record at the time. He would make a total of 5 first team appearances that season under caretaker manager Kenny Dalglish. The arrival of Martin O’Neill as manager in the summer of 2000 saw Kennedy drop back into the reserves to learn his trade, with the defender making only a handful of first team appearances over the next 3 seasons.

The 2003/2004 season saw the young defender’s star rise, before falling to earth with a sickening crunch. While Kennedy had been a regular in first team squads for a number of years, the strapping centre half was thrust into first team action on a number of occasions towards the end of 2003, making his Champions League debut against Lyon on 10/12/2003 and scoring his first goal for the club in the 3-2 win over Dundee at Celtic Park 3 days later. Kennedy seemed to grow in stature with every passing game and by March of 2004 the defender had turned in a number of near flawless performances, including a towering display against Barcelona in the Nou Camp. The defender seemed destined to become a fixture of the Celtic first team for years to come, and Kennedy was rewarded with his first international cap for Scotland against Romania at Hampden on 31/03/04. It was to be the last first team game the defender would play for more than 3 years.

As Kennedy slid in to tackle Romanian player Ioan Viorel Ganea, the Romanian stamped on Kennedy’s left knee, causing severe damage to the defender’s cruciate ligament. Kennedy’s knee was operated on several times by renowned American surgeon Dr Richard Steadman and on October 2005, after a period of intense rehabilitation, the defender resumed training with the first team squad. However Kennedy suffered a recurrence of the knee injury soon after and went under the knife again to undergo a “tightening up” procedure. The defender showed great mental strength to recover from this massive setback, and returned to training in late 2006. A number of reserve team appearance seemed to show that Kennedy had made a full recovery, and the 23 year old was named on the bench in several first team games including Celtic’s Champions League match against AC Milan on the 20th of February 2007.

On 22nd of April 2007 an injury to Stephen McManus saw Kennedy make his return to first team action alongside Steven Pressley in what would turn out to be the league decider. Celtic ran out 2-1 winners on the day to clinch their second successive Premier League Title, with Kennedy turning in a confident display at the heart of the defence. He went on to make a further two appearances for the first team as the season wound down. The 2007/2008 season was again a mixture a highs and lows for Kennedy. The defender started the season opener alongside club captain Stephen McManus, as Celtic laboured to a 0-0 draw with Kilmarnock. Kennedy went on to make another 13 appearances for the first team that season, as he began to show glimpses of the player he was before his horrific injury. However a miserable night against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League was to be defender’s last appearance that season as injury struck again. Kennedy landed awkwardly after challenging for a high ball, damaging his lateral meniscus and the posterior lateral complex of his left knee. The injury ruled him out for the rest of the season.

In July 2008, after speculation he would be going to Motherwell on loan, Kennedy agreed to join Norwich City on a 6 month loan deal up to January 2009.

Pictures