JOHN KENNEDY has told his Celtic players to concentrate fully on doing their job and making sure they get three points against Dundee United at Tannadice in the High Noon shoot-out on Sunday.
The interim manager, who led the side to a 1-0 win over Aberdeen last weekend in his first game in charge since the departure of Neil Lennon, is not interested in noise elsewhere.
Unfortunately, the championship will leave Paradise where the glittering prize had set up home during nine successive glorious years of Hoops domination, but Kennedy has no intention of allowing anyone to dwell on the loss of an old friend.
The determined Parkhead caretaker gaffer said: “We can’t worry about what may be going on elsewhere and how it might affect anyone else.
“We’ve got to think about ourselves all the time. And that’s where we’re at.
“Ultimately, Rangers are sitting in a very strong position. If we were sitting in that position we’d be comfortable and feeling confident.
“We’ve got to park that, think about ourselves, face up to the season and the way it’s been and what we do going forward.
“That is improving performances and becoming more consistent. There was lots in the Aberdeen game I really liked, especially in the first-half.
“We were slick and smooth in our play, created good opportunities. If we get a second goal, it’s a totally different game.
“Going into the second-half, it stays 1-0 and a bit of edginess crept in which we need to come through and have more belief in ourselves.”
Kennedy, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “We’ve spoken about that, addressed that and tried to instil more belief and confidence in the players as the week has gone on and we just want to show that in our performances and park what might or might not be elsewhere.
“It might be in the back of some people’s heads who have been here a long time.
“If that’s extra motivation, great, use it for that. But, ultimately, it’ll not be a motivating factor going into the game.”
Kennedy is obviously adopting the Sir Alex Ferguson approach to a din from across the city when the-then Manchester United legend often referred to Manchester City as “the noisy neighbours”.
Didn’t do Fergie much harm, did it?
