JOHN KENNEDY insists he will not allow his focus to waver as he prepares to continue guiding Celtic through to the end of the season.
The interim manager, who took over when Neil Lennon departed in February, will prepare his players for tomorrow afternoon’s Premiership game against Livingston at Parkhead.
The 37-year-old former club and country central defender will then turn his attention to the Scottish Cup fourth round encounter against Steven Gerrard’s side at Ibrox a week tomorrow.
Kennedy is still waiting to learn his own fate at the club while the Hoops hierarchy work on the finer points of the deal to bring in former Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe as the long-term successor to Lennon in time for a summer upheaval and a crucial new campaign.
The stand-in boss said: “There has been a lot of speculation and stories in the media around the next manager and everything else.
“But the club are being calm about it and taking their time to make sure they make the right decision.
“I just have to address each game and prepare the team. I’ll continue to do that until I’m told otherwise.
“There is a lot of speculation, but I’m used to that, having been at Celtic so long.
“I’ve heard it so many times when the rumour mill goes into overdrive.
“The reality is so many of these rumours are false.”
Kennedy, speaking to the Scottish Sun, added: “You just have to stay focused on what you can control, which is on the pitch for us.
“With the players, and especially the new guys, I’ve addressed that with them. We’ve had a discussion where we’ve said: ‘There’s a lot of chat, like there always is around Celtic, but all we can control is what happens on the training pitch and in games’.
“That’s the way we’ve addressed it with the players. We don’t make the decisions, we can’t control that.
“But we can control how we perform and how we conduct ourselves every day.
“We have to focus on that and nothing else.”
