JOHN KENNEDY has one up on the Rangers players and perhaps still even Dave King in that he has actually met Mark Warburton.

The two crossed paths when Celtic played in the NextGen tournament at a time when the now first-team coach was working with the Parkhead youth team.

Kennedy did not pretend to know the new Rangers manager – the man behind NextGen – but he did have nice things to say about the Englishman who, for the moment, remains something of a mystery in Scotland.

The former defender said: "Mark was involved in the organisation and set-up of the NextGen, and I got to know him very briefly through that – but I don’t know him too closely.

“From my experience of Mark, he’s a very nice guy, an intelligent man. With his previous jobs he has to be intelligent.

“He seems to know his football, and did a very good job at Brentford. We’ll wait and see how he does at Rangers.

"The one thing I’ll say about Mark is he was very pro-youth, he wanted to set up something that would make young players better.

“Certainly, for our young players, Next-Gen was a big factor in their development. He was part of that set-up and we appreciated that.

“The way he is talking he’s certainly got a keen eye for bringing in young players and developing them and that’s the type of coach he is."

Kennedy admitted to being caught out when news came from the other side of the city that Rangers had gone for someone with a background in football, but who lacks much experience in being a manager.

The Celtic coach said: "I was a little bit surprised, but I knew he was leaving Brentford and Rangers were looking for something they think will move the club forward, and they see him fit to do that."