Brendan Rodgers has resigned as Celtic manager with former boss Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney being put in temporary charge at Parkhead.
Rodgers’ second spell at Celtic ended after Sunday’s 3-1 William Hill Premiership defeat at Hearts left them eight points adrift of the Edinburgh side.
A club 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.”
Celtic added: “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.
“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.”
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Rodgers has previously managed Swansea, Liverpool and Leicester and arrived at Celtic for the second time in June 2023 to succeed Ange Postecoglou.
The Northern Irishman had been at Celtic between May 2016 and February 2019, completing successive league and cup trebles.
In his first season in charge, Celtic finished with a record 106 points and became the first Scottish side to complete a top-flight season undefeated since 1899.
Rodgers continued Celtic’s domestic supremacy by winning league titles in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons and also lifted the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup.
But cracks began to appear this season as Celtic were knocked out of the Champions League by Kazakhstan minnows Kairat Almaty.
Rodgers reacted to Celtic’s underwhelming summer recruitment by saying: “There’s no way you’ll go into a race and be given the keys to a Honda Civic and say ‘I want you to drive it like a Ferrari’. It’s not going to happen.”
A statement from principal shareholder Dermot Desmond on Monday criticised Rodgers, saying: “In June, both Michael Nicholson [chief executive] 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.
“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.”
