IF THERE IS A GOD D HE'S PLAYING FUNNYGAMES WITH PEOPLE

JOHN KENNEDY will check into a Colorado clinic on Wednesday to find out if he has a career left at Celtic Park.

The 22-year-old has already lost a year and a half out of his football life due to the severe knee injury suffered when he was the victim of a horror tackle by Romania's Ioan Ganea during a friendly international at Hampden.

This latest unexpected setback has now cast a massive shadow at the club where the talk should have been dominated by today's game against Hearts which has the leadership of the Premier League at stake.

But the scale of the depression which has engulfed Celtic's home was summed up best when manager Gordon Strachan said Kennedy's accident at training on Thursday morning had caused him to question God's existence.

Strachan thinks of his players as members of the same family,a description he used to explain why he was so protective of Neil Lennon following the furore which accompanied the Irishman's red card at Ibrox after the last Old Firm derby.

Watching Kennedy go into a traumatised state and witnessing the distraught reaction of the player's parents to yet more distressing news about their son was almost more than flesh and blood could stand for Strachan.

Just 24 hours after he had tried to conceal the enormity of what had happened in front of his own eyes, Strachan said: "If there is a God, he's playing some funny games with people Strachan had fronted the press conference which had been called for Thursday afternoon by Celtic's PR department to trumpet the signing of a one-year extension to Kennedy's contract.

The new agreement hadn't been drawn up out of sympathy, more in expectation that Kennedy would again be able to display his outstanding talent and flourish after surviving a potentially career-destroying challenge.

But Strachan had agreed to a request from the shell-shocked youngster to face the media and pretend everything was fine while knowing that he was being more than economical with the truth.

Hesaid:"Iwas trying to protect John.He needed breathing space to get his head round the idea of what had happened to him."

Strachan sacrificed his reputation for his player's peace of mind in the confused hours that followed the moment when the comeback of the year suddenly turned into a cover-up through necessity.

But he could only be unrepentant yesterday because his main consideration is still Kennedy's health and his prospects of yet defying the odds and playing first- team football for Celtic once again.

The exact extent of the damage done when Kennedy twisted the knee that has twice been operated on in Colorado by world-renowned sports surgeon Richard Steadman will be revealed when the two meet in America on Wednesday.

Strachan said: "John might not be back to square one, or it could have something to do with the old injury. Dr Steadman will tell us straight away and we can only hope it's good news."

Kennedy has gone beyond the stage of needing to be told what anybody else thinks he needs to hear about his immediate future, so his manager has no intention of filling his head full of false hopes.

Strachan is too busy hoping he doesn't have to watch a brave spirit ultimately being crushed.

He said: "John has already been pushed to the limits of his mental endurance by what he has had to go through over the last 18 months.

"To have to go through all that all over again would require a tremendous show of character."

Strachan's regret over the events of the previous 24 hours was tinged with a sense of dismay.

The colossus brought down by the cynical actions of a disreputable opponent had been showing signs of making a full recovery that excited his manager.

Strachan said: "We were playing a training game of four against four in an area that measured 40 yards by 25 yards. The tackles were flying in and people were crashing into each other.

"When the other players found out what had happened to John it had a severe effect on the dressing room for 20 minutes.

"The mood seriously deteriorated because John is so highly thought of and the lads have all watched him work so hard to get back to fitness.

"Football players are a rough group of guys when they get together.The humour is hard and everybody gets it, no matter the circumstances.

"There can be marital reasons, sexual reasons, you name it. But our dressing room wasn't a fun place to be when the lads heard about what had happened to John"Now I don't know if he'll even want to come along and watch the game against Hearts."

Bobo Balde had started to forge a daunting partnership with Kennedy in central defence when the younger man was struck down before he could explore the limits of his playing potential.

Balde spoke for his shattered team-mates when he said: "John was doing a good job before his injury. It's sad and I wish him all the best."

Allthatmattersnow is medicalopinion. Kennedy believedhehadbeen through theworstofhisproblemsandhadglimpsed the light at the end of a particularly dark tunnel - only to have his optimism called into question by a twist of fate.

Strachan's faith has been tested to breaking point. Kennedy has to keep believing that the surgeon's verdict won't drive him to the conclusion that he is the victim of a savagely cruel form of torment

Taken from the Daily Record