Kennedy drops Keane hint

Roy Keane’s representative has hinted the Celtic star could have one more season left in him.

The former Manchester United captain still has a year remaining on his Parkhead contract.

But the 34-year-old Irishman cast doubts over his future by revealing he will decide whether to carry on after speaking with a specialist during the close season.

Keane has been troubled by a hip injury but will be reluctant to quit with Celtic in the Champions League.

His representative, Michael Kennedy, believes a decision will be made soon after he returns from his holiday and he has given Hoops fans some hope that he will not be announcing his retirement just yet.

Kennedy said: “Roy is contracted to them next season so I don’t see why not.

“He hasn’t spoken to the specialist yet but he will do that when he returns from his holiday.”

Meanwhile, defender John Kennedy is convinced he will be ready for action again at the start of the next season.

The 22-year-old has not played since suffering a horrific knee injury for Scotland against Romania in March 2004.

But after four operations and various setbacks, the start of pre-season training cannot come quickly enough.

Kennedy told the Celtic View: “I’m looking forward to getting back into training and I’m excited about next season.

“Obviously things will take a bit of time to fall back into place and hopefully everybody will realise that.

“But it will be great to be back training with the rest of the boys and to get back playing in some games will be exciting for me.

“I’m going to start the first day of pre-season but I don’t intend to play in many of the matches to begin with.

“I’d imagine the team will have a few games in early July which I probably won’t be ready for.

“Because I’ve been out for so long I’ll need to get a good solid month of training behind me before I’ll be ready for a game.

“Hopefully I can get through the whole of pre-season without picking up any niggling injuries or anything to hold me back.

“From there on in I should hopefully be taking part in everything and back to normality.”

Kennedy has also hailed team-mate Shaun Maloney as an inspiration after watching him recover from a similar injury to play a starring role in the Bank of Scotland Premier League title triumph and lift a host of Player of the Year awards.

“Shaun got everything he deserved this season,” said Kennedy.

“He’s been outstanding and it’s all down to his own hard work, which started from the moment he got injured a couple of years ago. Shaun has his own gym programme and he’s getting his rewards now.

“When he first came back things weren’t going his way and there were rumours that he wasn’t the same player. But once Shaun had time to get his touch back things started to blossom for him and he’s been outstanding this season.”