Celtic risk wasting Johnny Kenny’s time and our own. Let him go.

Johnny Kenny is talking about coming back to Celtic and staking his claim. To be honest, I do not see it happening.

There comes a point when sentiment has to stop masquerading as football planning. I know some people love the idea of a homecoming, with the emotional music swelling in the background, the narrative of unfinished business and redemption.

But football at Celtic is not a fairy tale written for comfort. Celtic is pressure. Celtic is standards. Celtic is a club where every badge on the shirt feels heavy as stone because history itself is stitched into the fabric of those green-and-white hoops.

Honestly? My Ginger Witch instincts start screaming the second I hear the latest Johnny Kenny comeback talk. I just do not see it. I do not feel it. Usually when I get that feeling about a player, it tells me everything before the pitch even does.

Kenny talking about returning to Celtic and staking his claim sounds emotional on paper, but football is not built on emotion alone. Not at Celtic. This club cannot afford to drift into soft thinking where every player who once passed through the doors suddenly deserves another chapter because it sounds romantic.

Celtic need killers up front. Celtic need hunger, mentality, quality and courage. Celtic need players who look ready to deliver right now.

That is where the problem lies for me.

This is not about whether Kenny is a bad professional. It is not about whether he has talent. It is not about whether he can have a decent career. He can. He probably will. Sometimes a career path simply leads elsewhere, and there is no shame in that.

Plenty of players are good professionals without being Celtic level.

But there has to come a moment where both the player and the club stop forcing a narrative that no longer naturally fits.

Kenny needs to get on with his career somewhere he can properly settle, play consistently and build something stable for himself, instead of clinging to the idea of a dramatic Celtic breakthrough.

Meanwhile, Celtic need to be ruthless.

That word frightens some people, but the greatest Celtic sides were built on ruthlessness. The club never stood still. The standards never lowered for sentimentality.

If Celtic want to keep dominating Scotland and pushing further in Europe, recruitment cannot become emotional charity work.

It has to be elite-minded. Clinical. Ambitious. We need forwards who terrify defenders. We need players who understand exactly what it means to wear the Hoops before they even pull the jersey over their heads. Players who feel the pulse of Celtic Park in their bones. Players who look as though the noise lifts them rather than frightens them.

If anything, the last few years have shown exactly what Celtic require from forwards.

Relentlessness. Movement. Aggression. Technical quality. Mental steel.

Players who can walk into European nights under the Paradise lights and not shrink under the pressure or expectation.

I just do not believe Johnny Kenny is that player for Celtic.

That is not cruelty. That is realism.

The problem with the Kenny conversation is that Celtic cannot afford to make him a symbol of ambition. If he comes back as a fringe squad option, that is one thing. But if anyone at the club imagines that his return solves any meaningful part of the striker problem, then we are already in trouble.

Celtic need better up front. Much better.

That is not an insult to Kenny. It is a reflection of what Celtic should be.

Because Celtic is not just another club.

Celtic is identity. It is history roaring through generations. It is supporters carrying love, pain and pride through decades. It is Lisbon Lions casting shadows over every modern player who enters Paradise.

If you truly understand Celtic, you do not need to convince people emotionally. They can see it in your football. In your mentality. In your confidence. In the way you carry the pressure when storms arrive.

That is why this Johnny Kenny narrative leaves me cold.

My instincts reject it. Maybe that sounds harsh, but Celtic cannot survive on softness. The club survives because standards remain sacred. Supporters demand excellence because every season is another war to stay on top while everyone else waits for Celtic to stumble.

So, no. I do not want projects built on nostalgia or sympathy.

I want better players. Stronger players. Braver players. Players who walk into Celtic Park and immediately look like they belong under those floodlights.

Not “maybe someday” players.

Not “emotional return” players.

Celtic deserve certainty. Celtic deserve conviction. Celtic deserve footballers who understand that wearing those green-and-white hoops is not a second chance. It is a privilege earned every single day.

My senses tell me this chapter with Johnny Kenny should quietly end before people start pretending it is something bigger than it truly is. Let him go and build a career somewhere else. Let Celtic go and find the level of striker this club actually needs.

That would be better for everyone.

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