Brendan Rodgers resigns at Celtic as Martin O’Neill completes shock return

Celtic have confirmed that Brendan Rodgers has left the club after Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Hearts left them eight points off the Scottish Premiership leaders

Celtic have confirmed that manager Brendan Rodgers has resigned after Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Hearts. The Scottish champions have announced that former Hoops boss Martin O’Neill and Celtic player Shaun Maloney will take charge on an interim basis.

Sunday’s defeat at Tynecastle left the reigning Scottish Premiership champions eight points off leaders Hearts after nine matches. The club have also struggled badly in Europe this season with Celtic 21st in the Europa League group stage table having won just one match so far.

And now the Glasgow giants will be looking for a new manager after Rodgers’ second spell at the club came to a shock end on Monday evening.

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“Celtic Football Club can confirm that football manager Brendan Rodgers has today tendered his resignation,” said a statement on the club’s website. “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 former Leicester City, Liverpool and Swansea City boss returned for a second spell at Celtic Park in 2023. Rodgers won successive titles, to go with his league triumphs from 2017 and 2018.

But the 55-year-old leaves a side who are threatening to surrender their crown to a Hearts team who have enjoyed a phenominal rise under manager Derek McInnes. The unbeaten Jam Tarts have won eight and drawn just one match so far in the league and have beaten traditional Scottish powerhouses Celtic and Rangers to boot.

Speaking after Sunday’s loss to Hearts, Rodgers denied he had lost appetite for the battle against this season’s surprise package in Scotland.

“I’ve never worked harder in all my time here,” he said. “So the motivation is there to try and flip the levels that we’re at. It’s absolutely fine, it’s still so early. I think that’s the key point in it all.

“Hearts have made a fantastic start, got the points on the board, but there’s so much football to play. We’ve just got to hang in there at this moment, find those performances, find the results and hopefully our levels will improve as the season goes on.”

He added: “We have to fill the players with confidence. The context of today is obviously disappointing in the game and the result. But there are 29 games left.”

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