John Kennedy has a maturity beyond his years as he has been determined to look forward and not back at the tackle while on Scotland duty that effectively ended his career. He says that making the decision to retire after eight operations failed to clear up his knee injury came as a relief. Any international debut is something to remember but Kennedy will remember it for the start of the road to the end of his fledgling football career. Five years ago he made his debut in a friendly against Romania in March 2004, where he suffered a serious knee ligament injury following a reckless challenge by Romania striker Ionel Ganea. It was three years before he could return to the Celtic first team when, on April 22, 2007, he helped Celtic clinch the SPL title with a 2-1 victory at Kilmarnock. However that high point was soon to be followed by a low when, the following November, he was stretchered off during a Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk at Parkhead with further damage to the same knee. He was loaned out to Norwich last summer in an attempt to get back to his previous best but he returned to Glasgow at the end of the year after again damaging his knee and, a fortnight ago, Kennedy acted on medical advice to officially retire from the game.

Kennedy, who claims he has not considered legal action against Ganea, said: "It was getting to the point where I had so many surgeries and so many comebacks that it was vital for someone to make the decision for me. Once the decision was made, it was, I suppose, a weight off my shoulders. I don't have to keep worrying about trying to get fit again or what people are thinking about my knee. As positive and as strong as I felt, I always had this slight fear in the back of my mind that at any minute something might happen. But I can close that book and look forward to doing something else, a new challenge. I've had great support from my family and the club and that has helped me massively. It has been tough in that I haven't played as much football as I'd have liked but off the park I've had as good a life as anyone."

Kennedy was on yet another trip to America to see a specialist when he was given the advice no profession athlete wants to hear. He said: "I was asked to go back to America for tests and check-ups. I spent two days with the doctor and his staff and then he sat me down in his office, along with two other doctors, and spent a lot of time going through all my operations. He shocked me when he told me I had been through eight surgeries. He then told me that for the sake of my future and for my life with my kids that it would be best that I considered retiring. You don't want to hear it but it's in the back of your mind. When I went there I was open-minded. My knee was feeling good but I knew that the more times I injured it the slimmer the chance of getting back again. I would have kept trying until I did myself some serious damage so I think it was the right decision. It was a no-brainer to take his advice. There are people much worse off than me so I have to get on with it."

Kennedy described his thoughts on Ganea when he said: "The tackle and the player has been a closed book for me for a long time Maybe back then, nearer the time, there was slight bitterness but it is one of these things that happens. I never had any personal contact with him. I think I read once that he had said sorry or something like that but to me personally, nothing came but it is not something that concerns me. It is not going to make me any better knowing that the guy who tackled me is sorry for what he done. You can dwell on it and let it get to you but I haven't, I have just put it behind me and I have tried not to think too much about it. So I want to close that book and have good memories of the career I had and look forward to the future."