BRENDAN RODGERS has resigned as Celtic manager.
The move comes after the Hoops fell eight points behind Scottish Premiership league leaders Hearts, who beat Rodgers’ side 3-1 over the weekend.
A club statement on Monday evening confirmed the former Liverpool and Leicester manager’s departure.
It 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.
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“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.”
Celtic also confirmed in their statement that veteran Premier League and ex-Celtic boss Martin O’Neill would take interim charge of the team alongside former Celtic player, Shaun Maloney, who played more than 200 times for the outfit.
O’Neill, 73, managed Celtic between 2000 and 2005, winning the league and Scottish Cup three times each, as well as the Scottish League Cup in 2001.
Rodgers, 52, was in his second stint as Celtic boss.
His first stint had come in 2016 through to 2019 before he departed for Leicester in England.
The Northern Irishman returned to the Scottish giants in 2023 and won two league titles on the spin.
But after the weekend’s defeat to Hearts, Rodgers tendered his resignation.
It had also come after Rodgers, who had vowed to remain at Celtic Park for the duration of his three-year contract, had taken shots at the board over transfer activity.
Rodgers’ Celtic trophy haul
Scottish Premiership: 2016/17, 2017/18, 2023/24, 2024/25
Scottish Cup: 2016/17, 2017/18, 2023/24
Scottish League Cup: 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2024/25
PFA Scotland Manager of the Year: 2016/17, 2023/24
SFWA Manager of the Year: 2016/17
SPL Manager of the Season: 2016/17, 2017/18, 2024/25
The Scottish Sun’s bombshell exclusive in September saw club insiders reveal they felt Rodgers was trying to “engineer his way out” after failing to qualify for the Champions League.
And Hoops majority owner Dermot Desmond was scathing of Rodgers’ actions in his own statement released shortly after the boss’ resignation.
Desmond accused Rodgers of being “divisive, misleading, and self-serving”, adding his words had “contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the board”.
Rodgers’ exit comes weeks after Rangers sacked Russell Martin following a disastrous start to the season.
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