Celtic have confirmed that Brendan Rodgers has stepped down as manager of the club with immediate effect.
Rodgers, 52, found himself under increasing pressure following an inauspicious start to the new Scottish Premiership season, with the reigning champions sitting eight points adrift of top-of-the-table Hearts.
A dismal 3-1 defeat away to the league leaders on Sunday proved to be the final match of Rodgers’ second managerial spell at Celtic Park, which began in June 2023.
The Bhoys had also started poorly in the Europa League this term, winning just one of their opening three games at home to Austrian outfit Sturm Graz.
Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney will take over the reins on an interim basis and Celtic have reassured supporters that ‘further details will be confirmed shortly’.
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A statement on the club’s official website this evening read: ‘Celtic Football Club can confirm that football manager Brendan Rodgers has today tendered his resignation. It has been accepted by the club and Brendan will leave his role with immediate effect.
‘The club appreciates Brendan’s contribution to Celtic during his two very successful periods at the club.
‘Brendan leaves Celtic with our thanks for the role he has played during a period of continued success for the club and we wish him further success in the future.
‘The process to appoint a new permanent manager is underway and the club will update supporters further on this as soon as possible.
‘We are pleased that during this interim period former Celtic manager, Martin O’Neill and former Celtic player, Shaun Maloney have agreed to take charge of Celtic first-team matters. Further details will be confirmed shortly.’
While Celtic had passed on their best wishes and thanked Rodgers in the above statement, though, a separate statement (below) from Dermot Desmond pointed to a far more tumultuous situation by the scenes.
In a blistering attack on Rodgers, Celtic’s majority shareholder criticised the Northern Irishman’s ‘divisive, misleading and self-serving’ conduct in the months leading up to his departure.
Dermot Desmond's fiery statement in full
Brendan Rodgers has today tendered his resignation as manager of Celtic Football Club.
I want to acknowledge Brendan’s contribution across his two spells as manager, during which he helped deliver success that forms part of the club’s modern history. However, I must also express my deep disappointment at the way the past several months have unfolded.
When we brought Brendan back to Celtic two years ago, it was done with complete trust and belief in his ability to lead the club into a new era of sustained success. Unfortunately, his conduct and communication in recent months have not reflected that trust.
In June, both Michael Nicholson and I expressed to Brendan that we were keen to offer him a contract extension, to reaffirm the club’s full backing and long-term commitment to him. He said he would need to think about it and revert. Yet in subsequent press conferences, Brendan implied that the club had made no commitment to offer him a contract. That was simply untrue.
We met with Brendan regularly, including in December last year and at the start of the summer, with regular dialogue in between, to discuss and agree our collective strategy, priorities, and approach. Every player signed and every player sold during his tenure was done so with Brendan’s full knowledge, approval, and endorsement. Any insinuation otherwise is absolutely false.
His later public statements about transfers and club operations came entirely out of the blue. At no point prior to those remarks had he raised any such concerns with me, Michael, or any member of the Board or executive team. In reality, he was given final say over all football matters and was consistently backed in the recruitment process — including record investment in players he personally identified and approved.
When his comments were made publicly, I sought to address them directly. Brendan and I met for over three hours at his home in Scotland to discuss the issue. Despite ample opportunity, he was unable to identify a single instance where the club had obstructed or failed to support him. The facts did not match his public narrative.
Regrettably, his words and actions since then have been divisive, misleading, and self-serving. They have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the Board. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable.
Every member of the Board and executive team is deeply passionate about Celtic and acts at all times with professionalism, integrity, and a shared desire for success. What has failed recently was not due to our structure or model, but to one individual’s desire for self-preservation at the expense of others.
Celtic’s structure — where the manager oversees football, the Chief Executive manages operations, and the Board provides oversight — has served the club with great success for more than two decades. We all share the same ambition: to ensure Celtic’s continued success domestically and to achieve further progress in Europe. Every pound generated by the club is reinvested towards those goals and the continuous improvement of Celtic Football Club.
Celtic is greater than any one person. Our focus now is on restoring harmony, strengthening the squad, and continuing to build a club worthy of its values, traditions, and supporters.
Dermot Desmond, Celtic’s majority shareholder
Rodgers lifted the Scottish Premiership trophy for a fourth time last season as Celtic finished the top-flight campaign 17 points better off than their bitter city rivals Rangers.
The ex-Liverpool, Leicester and Swansea boss also steered Celtic to three Scottish Cup titles and four Scottish League Cups over the course of his two managerial stints in Glasgow.
His contract had been due to expire in the summer of 2026.
Rodgers’ temporary successor, O’Neill, 73, previously managed Celtic between 2000 and 2005, winning three Scottish Premier League titles, three Scottish Cups and one Scottish League Cup in that time.
Maloney, 42, meanwhile, who enjoyed two separate spells with Celtic in his playing days, has been out of a job since his sacking at Wigan Athletic in March.
Next permanent Celtic manager odds
4/5 Ange Postecoglou
3/1 Robbie Keane
6/1 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
8/1 Shaun Maloney
8/1 Kjetil Knutsen
10/1 Craig Bellamy
10/1 Damien Duff
12/1 Erik Ten Haag
*Odds courtesy of Coral
What Martin O’Neill said about Celtic’s defeat to Hearts
Just hours before his sensational return to Celtic was announced, O’Neill had – somewhat awkwardly – backed Hearts to get their hands on the Scottish Premiership trophy.
On the suggestion that Celtic and Rangers’ era of dominance could be disrupted by Hearts, O’Neill told talkSPORT’s Jim White: ‘Without a doubt. This is it.
‘Celtic are not that physically strong and can actually lose matches. Rangers are no threat whatsoever.
‘Although, with the new manager [Danny Rohl] coming in, like you Jim, I think he can maybe do something in time. But they are so far adrift it’s untrue.
‘But this is the moment for Hearts. Eight points clear. Their confidence is growing and it’ll grow from that victory [over Celtic] as well.
‘All the things happening for Hearts are great, whereas, at Celtic, they’re in a wee bit of trouble.
‘I agree with you, though, this is the best time for any side outside of the Old Firm to go all the way.’
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