John Kennedy (born 18 August 1983) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who is the assistant manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Since retirement, Kennedy has served as a scout, first-team coach and assistant manager to Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila, Brendan Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou, respectively. He played as a centre-back for Celtic and Norwich City, and won one international cap for Scotland. 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 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 Neil Lennon 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 forward Jimmy Delaney and nephew of Motherwell defender Pat Delaney. Playing career 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