Deep-rooted and irrecoverable issues: How Brendan Rodgers and Celtic met a sad and acrimonious end

One of the most decorated managers in the club’s history, it is a sad way for the 52-year-old to bow out in charge of a club so dear to his heart.

Rodgers tendered his resignation on Monday, bringing a premature end to his second spell at Celtic. He had vowed only a matter of months ago to see out his three-year-contract but that has been cut short by nearly nine months.

Not long after the announcement that Rodgers has resigned, there was more: a quite incredible message from the club’s chief Dermot Desmond, who harpooned the former manager with some choice words about his conduct and words to the press.

“Brendan Rodgers has today tendered his resignation as manager of Celtic Football Club,” it read. “I want to acknowledge Brendan’s contribution across his two spells as Manager, during which he helped deliver success that forms part of the club’s modern history. However, I must also express my deep disappointment at the way the past several months have unfolded.

“When we brought Brendan back to Celtic two years ago, it was done with complete trust and belief in his ability to lead the club into a new era of sustained success. Unfortunately, his conduct and communication in recent months have not reflected that trust.

“In June, both [chief executive] Michael Nicholson 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.

“We met with Brendan regularly, including in December last year and at the start of the summer, with regular dialogue in between, to discuss and agree our collective strategy, priorities, and approach. 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.

Desmond confronted Rodgers at his home

“When his comments were made publicly, I sought to address them directly. Brendan and I met for over three hours at his home in Scotland to discuss the issue. Despite ample opportunity, he was unable to identify a single instance where the club had obstructed or failed to support him. The facts did not match his public narrative.

“Regrettably, his words and actions since then have been divisive, misleading, and self-serving. They have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the Board. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable.

“Every member of the Board and executive team is deeply passionate about Celtic and acts at all times with professionalism, integrity, and a shared desire for success. 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.

“Celtic’s structure — where the manager oversees football, the Chief Executive manages operations, and the Board provides oversight — has served the club with great success for more than two decades. We all share the same ambition: to ensure Celtic’s continued success domestically and to achieve further progress in Europe. Every pound generated by the club is reinvested towards those goals and the continuous improvement of Celtic Football Club.

“Celtic is greater than any one person. Our focus now is on restoring harmony, strengthening the squad, and continuing to build a club worthy of its values, traditions, and supporters.”

No signs that resignation was imminent

The Celtic support, already in a state of flux, will surely be in a complete tailspin at this news. While some supporters were becoming increasingly concerned about how the team was progressing under his tutelage, such a stark and acrimonious exit was unexpected.

A day earlier, Rodgers said he had never been more committed to the fight at Celtic. This was in the wake of a 3-1 defeat by Hearts at Tynecastle that left them eight points behind the Jam Tarts in the title race. While he looked crestfallen, there seemed no tangible sign that he was about to vacate his position.

Many felt that an exit was on the cards in early September, when Rodgers was so vexed and dispirited by the club’s summer recruitment policy. He insinuated that the board had not properly backed him, had asset-stripped his squad. It was the same in the January transfer window. Desperate to progress Celtic after reaching the knock-out stages of the Champions League, he ultimately believed that the hierarchy did not feel the same way.

The Celtic board clearly see things m differently. The words from Desmond paint a desperately unhappy picture for all concerned at Celtic. While disharmony has been rife across the club for some time, seeping into what had previously been a largely united fanbase, it is clear deep-rooted and irrecoverable issues had been allowed to set in.

Rodgers won 11 trophies at Celtic. That cannot be forgotten in the most tragic of denouements in what for the most part had been success.

Where next for Celtic? Time does not stand still. The bookmakers have another former boss in Ange Postecoglou, recently axed by Nottingham Forest, as the early favourite. It is quite remarkable that Martin O’Neill, a 73-year-old who last policed a dug-out seven years ago, will preside over Celtic’s match against Falkirk on Wednesday. His last Celtic match was in 2005.

With Rangers’ implosion and Hearts’ rise to prominence, this is another crazy chapter in an already crazy tale that is season 2025/26.