KIERAN Tierney has revealed he owes much of his success on 'ultimate Celtic man' John Kennedy

The first-team coach and Tierney have been close since the 21-year-old was a kid in the club's academy and the former defender was a mentor.

Kennedy was tipped for great things after a superb performance against Barcelona ion 2004 but his career was destroyed within weeks when a dreadful knee injury all-but retired him.

“For me, in my career I wouldn’t be here without John,” said Tierney in an interview with this week’s Celtic View. “He helps me every day after training. I’ll watch video analysis with him and then we’ll go out and work on it on the pitch.

The Herald:

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“He always has time for you, no matter what’s going on. He’s one of those guys I could talk to about anything, I’m really close to him.

“Since I’ve been at Celtic, and particularly since I’ve been in the first team, John Kennedy’s been really important for the club and he’s largely gone unnoticed all these years.

“He’s got his reward now by getting assistant manager, but even under Ronny Deila he was a huge factor and under Brendan Rodgers he continued to be hugely important for us all.

“He’s been in the background for a bit but now he seems to be getting the credit he deserves and the recognition. He’s a really hard worker. He’s got to where he is through hard work and is a proper Celtic man.”