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Note: There has been more than one player with the same name to have played for Celtic. So please check the other namesakes if need be.
Personal
Fullname: John Kennedy
aka: Jack Kennedy
Born: 4 September 1939
Birthplace: Newtonards, N Ireland
Signed: 10 Mar 1965
Left: 1967 (free); 23 May 1967 (Glentoran (Detroit Cougars, USA))
Position: Goalkeeper
Debut: Celtic 4-0 Raith Rovers, League Cup, 22 Sep 1965
Internationals: N Ireland amateur side/Great Britain (Olympics)/Irish League
International Caps: 7/2/3
Biog
Newtonards born keeper John ‘Jack’ Kennedy signed for Celtic in March 1965 from Irish side Distillery, and has the honour of having been the first player to be signed under Jock Stein’s management at Celtic (the day after Jock arrived).
John Kennedy had kept goal for the Great Britain Olympic side at the 1964 Tokyo games but in the domestic game he had little opportunity to make an impression at Celtic Park where he found himself third choice custodian behind Ronnie Simpson and John Fallon. With Celtic just hitting the start of a new golden period, it was going to be hard for any outsider to make their mark, especially ahead of those two great stalwarts.
John Kennedy’s one run out for the Bhoys came in a 4-0 defeat of Raith Rovers in a second leg League Cup tie at Parkhead in September 1965 (Celtic had won the first leg 8-1 v the second tier side). One newspaper report on the match was positive on John Kennedy stating:
“Kennedy gave a confident, assured performance in his first appearance in the senior team and Celtic’s defence, although occasionally taken aback by Raith’s lively spirit…”.
It wasn’t to be for John Kennedy at Celtic, but he had played a small part in helping the club to their first league cup title since 1957/58 in the new golden era under Jock Stein. Another landmark.
Ronnie Simpson was selected for the following match after John Kennedy’s debut, and the rest as they say is history.
He was released two years later without making another first team appearance. Despite the lack of success for himself at Celtic, he had a front row seat to watch Celtic achieve the incredible quadruple with the European Cup in 1966/67. So he got to watch some history unfold if not necessarily get to take part directly in it on-field.
He remained in football, and played in the US, guesting for the Glentoran team that played as the Detroit Cougars in the United Soccer Association, an embryonic professional league in the United States whose inaugural season featured only imported teams.
He amazingly was never once ever booked or cautioned.
He later returned to the UK, to play with Lincoln City and became a long-term regular player for their club.
John Kennedy was to be the first to receive Lincoln City’s Supporters’ Club Player of the Season award. He remained with the club for a time as a youth coach, and played for Lincoln United in the Yorkshire League.
A cartilage operation put an end to his playing career.
While at Lincoln City, John Kennedy had combined football with a teaching career, and remained in the Lincoln area after he finished playing football, where he taught at the City School until his retirement in 1994.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1965-67 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Shut-outs: | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 (100%) |
Honours with Celtic
Pictures
Articles
John Kennedy
Source: http://www.redimps.com/archive3/index.mv?cat=players&drop=playerdetsdrop&play=kenn02
Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s Irishman John Kennedy was first choice ‘keeper at Sincil Bank for seven seasons and is regarded by many as one of the best in his position for the Imps during the post-War period.
As a goalkeeper he is remembered for his calm authority he exercised over his penalty area, his clean handling of the ball and above all his fair play. He was one of the last part-timers to appear in the Football League for the Imps combining his playing career with a day-time job as a school teacher after moving south from Glasgow Celtic in the summer of 1967.
Throughout his career with the Imps John was a stalwart of the defence and had a reputation of saving penalties. His feat of saving two spot-kicks within five minutes in City’s match at Colchester back in March 1973 is one that is unlikely to be repeated. Ironically City went onto win that match after Dixie McNeil successfully scored when the Imps were awarded a penalty and set up a 2-0 victory.
John was brought up in Northern Ireland attending a rugby-playing grammar school. His early football was with the Boys’ Brigade and then in the local Churches League before he signed as an amateur for the Irish League club Distillery at the age of 18. His performance won him a call-up for the Northern Ireland amateur international team making his debut against Wales in January 1961 and he also played for the Irish League representative team.
The 1962/63 season proved a tremendous campaign with his club, who were managed by former Imps’ star George Eastham, as they clinched the Irish League title for the first time in 60 years thanks to a final day win against Linfield. Distillery’s hopes of a double had already disappeared following a 2-1 defeat in the Irish Cup Final but the championship win put the club in the European Cup where they were drawn against the mighty Benfica. The first match produced a memorable 3-3 draw but the Portuguese outfit comfortably went through thanks to a 5-0 second leg win – the legendary Eusébio scoring three of Benfica’s eight goals.
John’s form earned him selection for the Great Britain Olympic squad and after appearing in warm-up matches against top club sides such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Aston Villa, he appeared in both legs of 1964 Olympics qualifying matches against Greece.
He turned professional in March 1965 when he signed for Celtic, joining the day after Jock Stein arrived at the club. He shared the reserve team position with Ronnie Simpson getting his only break into the senior team in September 1965 for a League Cup tie against Raith Rovers. Although the club won 4-0, Celtic then turned to the more experienced Simpson and at the end of the 1966/67 season, John was released and spent the summer with the Irish team Glentoran who played as Detroit Cougars in the USA.
The Imps and Shrewsbury Town were both interested in signing John along with several Scottish clubs but he accepted an offer to join City after playing in a friendly match against Hearts.
In his first season he was part of the City team that reached the fourth round of the Football League Cup only going out 3-0 to Derby County in a Sincil Bank replay watched by a record 23,196 crowd.
Kennedy had a run of 78 consecutive first team appearances before suffering a fractured elbow in a dramatic FA Cup clash with Chester in December 1968. Once fully fit he won his place back and in 1969/70 was voted the first ever Supporters Club “Player of the Season”.
He stayed at Sincil Bank until the summer of 1974 and this meant that he never played for the club at a higher level than Division Four. The nearest the Imps came to promotion in his time was in 1971/72 under David Herd when City were just one point away from going up.
At the start of his career with the Imps John taught at the old Sincil School and was able to train at the Club at lunchtime. Later he moved to the City School and either Bert Loxley or George Kerr would normally come over to train him or he would have a session with athletics coach Jack Murphy.
Graham Taylor’s appointment at City brought big changes with training routines altered and generally a more business-like attitude around the Club. John eventually decided to retire but continued to assist in coaching young players. He also played for Lincoln United in the Yorkshire League for a couple of seasons before retiring following a cartilage operation.
He retired from teaching at the City School in 1994 and is currently the president of Washingborough village tennis club, having also been heavily involved with the village’s Twinning Association.
