Brendan Rodgers resigns as Celtic manager as Martin O'Neill and Shaun Maloney take charge

Brendan Rodgers has resigned as Celtic manager, the club have announced.

It comes as the champions slipped eight points behind early pacesetters Hearts after dropping 10 points in their opening nine matches and losing each of their last two in the league.

Rodgers returned for a second stint at Celtic Park in 2023, claiming consecutive titles to add to his league titles from 2017 and 2018.

In a statement released late on Monday, the club confirmed that the 52-year-old had tendered his resignation, with former boss Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney being put in temporary charge at Parkhead.

A statement 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.”

The announcement comes just five days after Rodgers insisted he was “more motivated than ever” to turn Celtic’s form around after defeats to Braga and Dundee threw their campaign into doubt domestically and in Europe.

However, Rodgers’ second spell at Celtic ended after Sunday’s 3-1 William Hill Premiership defeat at Hearts left them eight points adrift of the top of the table.

‘Divisive, misleading, and self-serving’

After the club announced Rodgers’ departure, majority shareholder Dermot Desmond released a statement at 10pm, saying that the 52-year-old’s words and actions have been “divisive, misleading, and self-serving”.

The statement also claimed that Rodger’s claims have “contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club”.

It read: “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.”