'I should keep this to myself' - Former Celtic coach makes claim about Brendan Rodgers and John Kennedy exits

O'Dea, who spent six years working in various roles on the Parkhead coaching staff before leaving to become assistant manager at Swansea last summer, also believes the Wilfried Nancy fiasco would have been "100 per cent different" if Kennedy had still been around.

Kennedy cut ties with Celtic in October following the shock resignation of Rodgers having served as assistant under several managers. He now works alongside Rodgers at Saudi Arabian outfit Al Qadsiah.

Rodgers was replaced initially by Martin O'Neill on an interim basis but his permanent successor Nancy lasted just 33 days after losing six of his eight matches in charge, with O'Neill brought back until the end of the season.

According to former defender O'Dea, it was the departure of Kennedy that caused the biggest issue at Celtic.

Speaking to Open Goal, the Irishman said: "I'm going to make a comment that I probably shouldn't, I should probably keep this to myself. John Kennedy leaving Celtic is bigger than Brendan Rodgers leaving Celtic in terms of impact.

"He's been there for 27 years. The staff there runs to his tune. Neil Lennon put a tag over him – 'chief of staff.' He runs the day-to-day. He's obviously loyal to the manager and buys into what the manager wants, but he runs the staff, and the staff won't have liked him leaving. That's my opinion on it anyway.

"Nancy coming in, you weren't just changing manager for manager. You're having to change everything, and then you're trying to win games.

"It would have been different, 100 per cent (if Nancy had kept Kennedy).

“My understanding was he wasn’t asked to stay. He was gone. That’s my understanding of it. It wasn’t a conversation. He left with Brendan.”

Asked whether he felt Rodgers was settled at the club, O'Dea answered: "No. I don't know if this is factual, but my understanding was he would have left at the end of the season at the end of his contract. With the way he previously left the club, he certainly wanted to honour his contract.

"But a lot has obviously happened and it's culminated in Dermot Desmond having had enough. I don't know if Brendan went in and offered his resignation, no-one has an idea what exactly happened. Because he didn't get sacked, he left.

"But then there's the wipeout – John Kennedy left, Paul Tisdale eventually left after Wilfried Nancy. The amount of change is incredible.

"I listened to Nancy's first few interviews and I thought 'you're not really reading the room here.' But I felt sorry for Nancy, because he was coming in to an absolute mess."