The news which broke this morning that Eddie Howe would be happy to work alongside Kennedy and Strachan is being greeted like a harbinger of doom.
It’s nothing of the sort. Kennedy and Strachan are not everyone’s cup of tea, but it would be no disaster if they were around for a while longer.
The key thing here is removing them from influence.
I understand that some at Celtic might want “continuity” of some sort on the coaching staff.
For openers, it will save money if we’re not paying these guys off and finding their replacements.
I personally don’t believe anyone who was involved in this year’s failures should survive.
Kennedy has shown me nothing to suggest he’s a good coach and he’s certainly not a great tactician.
I would remove every trace of the Lennon regime.
But actually, this boils down to simple practicality, and we shouldn’t let our natural and perfectly valid lust for blood overcome that.
If Howe is happy to have them then that’s fine. If neither man is up to his standards, he’ll know soon enough and both will be removed.
It’s really as simple as that.
But he has to have the chance to evaluate the coaches as he well as the players … and from that point on, the decision is down to him. Don’t think for one second that he will retain the services of anyone he believes isn’t getting the job done.
Kennedy was on the books during the Rodgers years; we didn’t suffer unduly for that.
If, as some of his critics have brutally suggested, his role was limited to “putting out the traffic cones” then that’s perhaps where he’ll end up here too.
Howe has his own ideas about his people.
He will want to choose his own assistant, and I don’t believe for one second that he would pick Kennedy. History suggests that he will also bring with him at least one first team coach; as these are his people, I would imagine that Kennedy and Strachan will find their influence checked and limited accordingly.
Standards have fallen at Celtic on the watch of these men; that is not in the slightest doubt.
It is not a simple case of blaming Lennon for overseeing that, these two were on the staff at the time.
You listen to Kennedy talk about players like Ajeti still not being fit and the impression you get is of a coaching staff which is all over the place and clueless.
Howe will know that’s not tenable.
When he says he’s happy to work with these guys read “for the moment” at the end of that statement.
Be under no illusions; there are little “cut out here” dashes under the necks of both in the club photo from the minute he walks through the door.
The early days for any manager are about evaluation … once that period ends, expect a top boss to act without mercy in cutting out any deadwood.
That’s as true for coaches as it is for players.