John Kennedy

The Griff one 100%. Ralston we just took up the option on his contract before he came in because we literally had no right backs. That’s fine that.

Aw, if I believed it was true it would definitely be a stick to beat him with. As it is, I don’t believe it’s true but if it was he’d need to be chased from the club immediately.

 

Yes that’s 100% true and you live and die with those sort of decisions. I was of the same mindset though so I can’t exactly criticise.

I doubt he’ll be first choice by the time season begins, I like the fact we’re at least slightly covering our arses. It’s something we don’t do enough. Also don’t think he’s as brutal as people like to pretend, was a far better option than Jonjoe Kenny last year.

 

Not really. He spoke to Griff and made a judgement call on what he was saying and, no doubt, the fitness reports that would have been given by the fitness team. Also we don't know what the new contract was. Ange may have insisted the new contract was on a pay as you play basis, or something similar, to ensure the risk to us was minimal. So I wouldn't call his judgement into question over it, when we don't know the details behind it.

 

If Lawwell was still in charge I wouldn’t tbh, but I think McKay will still be dealing with his pish from last season and time beyond that. Time will tell if he will deal with it in the way we find satisfactory.

 

Whether it is a coincidence or not is irrelevant. We are talking about Ange's judgement call and he may well have thought with the proper incentives, ie not getting paid unless he is actually doing the business in training and on the pitch, he could get the best out of him. The point is we don't know the details behind what went into him making the decision. Yes it looks bad now due to what happened, but unless you think Ange already knew that had happened, or he can predict the future and did it anyway, it's not relevant to the decision being taken.

 

Just to play devil's advocate and I know unlikely to change people's opinions, but want to see where the thinking is on Kennedy...

Hypothetically, say Rodgers and Chris Davies had stayed at the club for the same seasons Lennon just managed at.
Say they then * up last season to the same degree as Lennon and Kennedy did.
Same situation, same results, same reactions, same everything.
Rodgers leaves in February and Davies was then interim boss and continued the trend - same results as Kennedy, same reactions, same everything.


Would people be happy with Davies staying this season again under a different manager?

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To be honest no. I don't think he'd get same level of abuse but I think when things go as badly wrong as last season you always need a clean slate.

 

Definitely not, i’d only be happy if we recruited and got the best candidate we we afford rather than the lazy in-house option

 

As with many things the answer is... it depends on the circumstances. I could be way off the mark but Davies hasn't struck me as someone with an eye on a manager's role. With that being the case, in my opinion, it's likely he'd have taken the team genuinely to help out until a new manager could be found, rather than with a view to taking it on full time himself. If that were the case I'd probably be ok with him staying under a new manager as I think he is very good at what he does. Where I still have no real clue what Kennedy does.

 

No, it’s simply pointing out facts. He was playing a lesser role when Rodgers was in charge, compared to when Lennon was at the helm. I don’t even think that’s up for debate.

He was a part of the coaching staff that won 8 trophies prior to Rodgers. He was also part of failures during that period, such as the defeat to Malmö when he held his hands up and admitted he was responsible for the defensive set up. Something which has haunted us all the time he has been a coach here by the way. I know his official job title wasn’t defensive coach, before that gets jumped on, but he did admit he was responsible for it after Malmö.

It’s just ridiculous the fact that both he and Strachan have been kept on after last season to be honest. Scandalous in fact.

 

The circumstances are as I mentioned, hypothetically.

Not sure if you're meaning Kennedy has an eye for the managers job in this, but for me he doesn't come across as someone who wants it, really.
Surely someone who wanted the job would have done something different to stand out from the dross of the past season or two?

Straight up though, replace Rodgers and Davies for Lennon and Kennedy, exact same scenario.

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Yes, I believe Kennedy very much wanted the job. But even doing an exact person switch I still can't do a direct comparison scenario as I know what Davies brought to the coaching team through the use of analytics, both of our players and the opposition players and tactics. I really don't know what Kennedy does. That makes it hard to say it's worth keeping him or not when you don't know what qualities he has.

Which is why I'm willing to give Ange time to assess the situation and make up his mind as to whether he can work with them or not once he has seen what they can do. Personally I'd prefer them to go, as if it doesn't work out it'll just be used as another stick to beat Ange with, but if he feels they bring something to the table so be it, he's going to be the one that has to live with that decision, one way or another.

 

Just annoys me every time the camera zooms in on his blank expression. Never had one shrug of the shoulders angered me so much.

 

I think that Ange took the role knowing Kennedy and Strachan would be staying and that he might bring in his own people but they would be integrated into his back room team. I think all the assessing etc is just HR talk and in truth what other industry sacks the workforce when new management takes over. I get a new broom sweeps clean etc but I have taken over sites in London from other managers and kept on the people there if we sacked everyone every time the management changes there would be millions of people changing jobs every month.

 

I think Kennedy might realise after his time in charge last year that he's not cut out to be a manager - everyone else could certainly see it - he was devoid of any original ideas. He might now be happy being a coach as he realises that's his level and will now just try to fit in with the manager's plans and do his best to implement them.
I do believe it was Ange's decision as he doesn't come across as a bullshitter and if Kennedy or Strachan don't get with the programme or cause any problems they'll be gone.