Interim manager John Kennedy insists recruitment plans for next season continue at Celtic despite the club’s new boss not yet being in the building.

The Parkhead club’s assistant manager stepped up when Neil Lennon resigned last month, with Celtic’s quest for a 10th successive Scottish Premiership triumph in tatters and rivals Rangers on course for their first title in a decade.

Ahead of the trip to Tannadice to play Dundee United on Sunday, the former Celtic defender confirmed that plans to bolster the squad are on-going.

He said: “It was obviously on-going when Neil was here, we were involved in discussions in terms of where Nick Hammond (head of football operations) and his team were at, what they were looking at, what we need and there will have to be changes in the summer as there always is in terms of player pools.

“It is still an on-going process and that is the thing about the club, around the management side of it, there is structures there and departments in place that continually do the work.

“So everything is still on-going in the background so that whatever happens there is food for thought there and decisions to be made.

“Ultimately for Celtic there is a certain type of player and a certain type of coach who would take the team and play in a certain way.

“Celtic is always a team who want to have good attacking players, creative players, goal scorers, flair and attacking intent but also, any coach or manager will have their own take on that.”

Kennedy is glad to see James Forrest back in training after he had a small set-back following ankle surgery.

The Scotland winger’s last game was in a Europa League game against Riga last September.

He said: “He has been out for a long time but he has trained very well during the week.

“I want to make sure he has the confidence and trust in himself after a long period of time out, that he is good to go if called upon.

“It will be great to have him part of it again because we have missed him.

“His numbers in terms of goals and assists and what he brings the team for the past few seasons has been terrific and we have certainly missed that.

“So it is exciting to have James back in training, he has certainly shown glimpses of what he is capable of and we will see whether he is good to go.”