John Kennedy: We aim to do the business again

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Celtic F.C.

·27 Juni 2024

John Kennedy: We aim to do the business again

The countdown is on for the defence of the title as the players returned to the Lennoxtown training camp this morning (Thursday) on the day that the 2024/25 SPFL fixtures were announced.

Those Celts not on international duty over the summer gathered ahead of their first pre-season training session, and, although the campaign doesn’t begin until the start of August, the first action of the summer kicks-off as early as next week.

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Next Friday sees the commencement of five pre-season games both here in Scotland and across the Atlantic in the United States against the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, with all FIVE of the games available on Celtic TV.

And assistant manager, John Kennedy is looking ahead to the start of the season as the champions now get down to the serious business of prepping for the fight to repeat the success of last term.

He said: “I think we’re all excited. It was an amazing scene we’ve seen a few times now, but it certainly doesn’t get old when you win trophies and you go back to Celtic Park.

“There’s just that moment when everyone comes together and you can celebrate, because there were challenges as it was a tough season last year at times, but it was certainly worth it in the end when you see everyone come together.

‘And, again, going forward as always, the manager has said, we are as one, we’re as strong as anyone out there.’

“So the message from the off is we are going out to do the business again and that’s always going to be there with the support of the Celtic fans.”

Kennedy added: “It’s two things, it’s to celebrate the achievement of the previous season, which is always nice with the flag being unfurled and still remembering the work that was done last year and what we achieved.

‘But it also then draws a line under that and it’s the start of a new and exciting season, so we’re looking forward to that.’

“There’s a lot of work to be done before that comes around, but especially for the fans with the fixtures coming out today, they’ll be getting excited about the football coming back around and looking forward to seeing the players and the team back on the pitch again.”

Among that work will be the pre-season games, and the assistant manager said: “It’s a bit different for us this year, we normally go away to Austria, last year we were in Portugal and had a camp out there where we started the games, whereas this year we’re going to the States.

“We just thought this year, we’ve got a great facility here, the way the players are filtering back in, it’s probably best that we base ourselves here for a couple of weeks before we head off, so with that it then gives us the chance to play local games here in Scotland.

“It will be good for us and it’s just building blocks as we’ll get the work in with the training, but, again there comes a point when you have to start getting the match-time as it’s a different type of fitness.

“It’s a really important phase when you start getting into that match routine, the prep for the games, you execute how you want to play and then the review process starts with that as well.

“It’s important for us regardless of the opposition, we’ll get the minutes in early doors, and obviously when we go to the States we’ve got some challenging games which is again another step forward.”

You can see all five games on Celtic TV

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