Brendan Rodgers has resigned as manager of Celtic, with club legends Martin O'Neill and Shaun Maloney appointed to oversee the team on an interim basis.
The announcement follows a 3-1 defeat to Hearts, which left Celtic eight points behind the Scottish Premiership leaders.
Dermot Desmond, Celtic's largest individual shareholder, criticised Rodgers' conduct since the summer transfer window, stating that his "words and actions…have been divisive, misleading, and self-serving," creating "a toxic atmosphere around the club" and fuelling tensions with the executive team and board. Desmond added, "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."
This marks the end of Rodgers' second spell at Celtic, having previously managed the club from 2016 until February 2019, when he left to take charge at Leicester City.
O'Neill, who led Celtic between 2000 and 2005, won seven trophies, including three league titles, and famously guided the team to the 2003 UEFA Cup final, where they were defeated by Jose Mourinho's Porto. The 73-year-old O'Neill will share interim managerial duties with 42-year-old Maloney, who enjoyed 215 appearances for Celtic as a player and previously managed Hibernian and Wigan Athletic.
During his second tenure, Rodgers, 52, secured the league title in each of his four full seasons, but Celtic's form this term has faltered. Last season, the club won the Scottish Premiership and League Cup but lost the Scottish Cup final on penalties to Aberdeen. In Europe, they progressed to the Champions League play-off round before being eliminated 3-2 on aggregate by Bayern Munich, and this season they failed to reach the league phase after a play-off defeat to Kairat Almaty.
Rodgers returned to Celtic in the summer of 2023, following four years at Leicester City, where he won the FA Cup and Community Shield in 2021 and guided the club to consecutive top-five Premier League finishes. His managerial career began with Watford and Reading, before he led Swansea City to Premier League promotion in 2011 and narrowly missed out on the Premier League title with Liverpool in 2013-14.
O'Neill, widely regarded as Celtic's most successful manager since Jock Stein, boasts a remarkable win rate of 75.5 per cent. Over five seasons in Glasgow, he won three league titles, three Scottish Cups, and a League Cup, missing out on two further titles by only a single point and one goal. His managerial career also includes spells at Leicester City, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Nottingham Forest, and the Republic of Ireland national team.
The announcement follows a 3-1 defeat to Hearts, which left Celtic eight points behind the Scottish Premiership leaders.
Dermot Desmond, Celtic's largest individual shareholder, criticised Rodgers' conduct since the summer transfer window, stating that his "words and actions…have been divisive, misleading, and self-serving," creating "a toxic atmosphere around the club" and fuelling tensions with the executive team and board. Desmond added, "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."
This marks the end of Rodgers' second spell at Celtic, having previously managed the club from 2016 until February 2019, when he left to take charge at Leicester City.
O'Neill, who led Celtic between 2000 and 2005, won seven trophies, including three league titles, and famously guided the team to the 2003 UEFA Cup final, where they were defeated by Jose Mourinho's Porto. The 73-year-old O'Neill will share interim managerial duties with 42-year-old Maloney, who enjoyed 215 appearances for Celtic as a player and previously managed Hibernian and Wigan Athletic.
During his second tenure, Rodgers, 52, secured the league title in each of his four full seasons, but Celtic's form this term has faltered. Last season, the club won the Scottish Premiership and League Cup but lost the Scottish Cup final on penalties to Aberdeen. In Europe, they progressed to the Champions League play-off round before being eliminated 3-2 on aggregate by Bayern Munich, and this season they failed to reach the league phase after a play-off defeat to Kairat Almaty.
Rodgers returned to Celtic in the summer of 2023, following four years at Leicester City, where he won the FA Cup and Community Shield in 2021 and guided the club to consecutive top-five Premier League finishes. His managerial career began with Watford and Reading, before he led Swansea City to Premier League promotion in 2011 and narrowly missed out on the Premier League title with Liverpool in 2013-14.
O'Neill, widely regarded as Celtic's most successful manager since Jock Stein, boasts a remarkable win rate of 75.5 per cent. Over five seasons in Glasgow, he won three league titles, three Scottish Cups, and a League Cup, missing out on two further titles by only a single point and one goal. His managerial career also includes spells at Leicester City, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Nottingham Forest, and the Republic of Ireland national team.
