ON-LOAN Celtic defender John Kennedy is set to be out of action for three to five weeks after tearing a cartilage in his knee during the 2-0 defeat at Reading last Saturday.
Canary boss Glenn Roeder told First News the big centre back will return to Glasgow, where Celtic's phsyio team will decide on surgery options for Kennedy: "He's got a tear in his meniscus, or his cartilage. It's completely new injury, in the same knee that he had the big operation on. He's going back up to Celtic to see their club physios and their club doctor and then they'll decide which surgeon to use.
"Depending on what they find, he could be out for three to five weeks so it won't just be a week or two, especially with the history he has with that knee. You're not going to want to take any chances with rushing him back.
Roeder will now wait to see how Kennedy's treatment pans out and also to hear from Celtic manager Gordon Strachan before any decisions can be made regarding the Scotland international's time at Carrow Road.
"I need to see what the opinion is of the surgeon who performs his operation and obviously most importantly, what Gordon Strachan's views will be and whether he'll want to take John back after he's been here for the agreed amount of time of half a season.
Roeder admitted injuries are a real blow to a manager, particularly when you have a small squad to work with: "We couldn't have him out injured for so long, not with a squad so small. It's a case of waiting to see, we can't have injured players - I've been down this road before and it's just not possible. It's not good when you pick up injuries, because you still have to get results with the players you have left and when we're fully fit we have about 18 players in terms of outfield players. That's a very small small squad, 22 is ideal but 18 is small.
"I'm as good as any player who is injured, I had Micheal Owen sit in the stand for a year when I was at Newcastle and I was as good as him that year, if you see what I mean. It's an experience that you learn from, and injuries are out of a manager's hands - John's injury at Reading was pure bad luck."
