Celtic and Neil Lennon waved goodbye to a man who helped stabilise the club after Brendan Rodgers left and helped bridge the gap between Lenny and the players back early in 2019 when the Irishman returned to the club.
Damien Duff along with John Kennedy were absolutely pivotal in bringing Lennon up to speed and helped pave the way for a treble treble to be won.
Duff would keep his position in the club for the whole of the nine in a row season. Shortly after the shutdown, it emerged Duff was going to sign for the Irish national set up and would be leaving Celtic.
It came as a surprise at the time but it makes a lot more sense after Duff said his farewells on the Celtic website.
The Irishman put the move down to 100% a family life decision. Duff was over in Glasgow himself while his family resided in Ireland. The working away wasn’t what was best for his family and when the Ireland post came up, he had to take it.
“The role I had at Celtic was my dream job. I’m absolutely gutted, devastated to be leaving, especially at this time, when we’re going for 10.
“It was absolutely a family decision. There is no job in the world that would have taken me away from the role I was in. I’d love to be a brilliant coach one day, but I think it’s more important at the minute that I’m just a brilliant dad, I guess.”
Nobody could begrudge the coach leaving under those circumstances. We hope Damien is successful in his new role and we thank him for his hard work while at the club.
Great guy ☘️ Good luck Duffers