Brendan Rodgers resigns as Celtic manager

Martin O’Neill has made a remarkable return to Celtic as interim manager after Brendan Rodgers resigned from the Scottish champions on Monday. Rodgers, who had been deeply frustrated by Celtic’s lack of activity in the transfer market, had planned to see out the season in Glasgow but instead walked away 24 hours after a 3-1 loss against Hearts at Tynecastle. Celtic trail the Edinburgh club by eight points in Scotland’s top flight.

Celtic are likely to at least assess the status of Ange Postecoglou, their former manager who left Nottingham Forest earlier this month. The Australian has previously shown no interest in returning to past employers but may have limited options after a wounding period in England.

“Celtic football club can confirm that football manager Brendan Rodgers has today tendered his resignation,” read a Celtic statement on Monday evening. “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 under way and the club will update supporters further on this as soon as possible.”

While Celtic’s form in recent weeks – they have dropped 10 points in nine Scottish Premiership games – had increased speculation about the position of Rodgers, this still comes as a shock. He leaves the club days before a Scottish League Cup semi-final against Rangers at Hampden Park. Equally surprising is O’Neill’s situation; he ended his successful time in charge of Celtic in 2005 and has not been in frontline management since departing Nottingham Forest in 2019. O’Neill will be assisted by his former Celtic player Shaun Maloney.

Rodgers was out of contract next summer and there appeared little chance of him extending his second Celtic tenure. The Irishman guided the team to the knockout phase of the Champions League last season but the team clearly regressed over the summer, leading to elimination by Kairat Almaty in the qualifying phase of the same competition. The manager’s vocal disquiet over transfers in turn irked the Celtic hierarchy, who have been subject to vehement protest from supporters. This was a club at war with itself; time will tell whether the departure of Rodgers ends that.

After the loss at Hearts, Rodgers denied shifting the blame on to others. “I’ve always taken responsibility,” he said. “There’s never been a time that I haven’t. When you’re the manager at Celtic, you’re responsible for the results, despite whatever else happens. So that responsibility is on me.”