NEIL LENNON had to answer questions relating to his right hand man’s future after it emerged today John Kennedy was a shock candidate for the vacant Hibernian job.

John has been at Celtic since he was a youngster, coming through the youth ranks to make it to the first team before a horrible injury meant he had to hang up his boots well before he should have. Since then, the club took care of him in the beginning as he set out to become a coach, the former player has worked under a number of Celtic managers and coached at youth level. In February, the Celtic man was called upon to be Neil Lennon’s number two when Brendan Rodgers walked away from the club and became an invaluable asset to Lenny in the months that followed.

When Neil was announced as the Celtic manager it was also made clear John would be continuing in his role at the club beside Neil. Given John’s experience to this point now, it would be negligent of some clubs not to consider him but Lenny has made it clear he doesn’t want John to go.

“We don’t want him to go but it doesn’t surprise me because he’s a superb coach.” Lennon told CelticTV.

“It’s a feather in John’s cap if that’s the case but as far as I’m concerned he won’t be going anywhere because he’s an integral part of what we do here.”