Brendan Rodgers was accused of “divisive, misleading, and self-serving” behaviour after resigning as Celtic manager in an astonishing departing statement from the club’s principal shareholder Dermot Desmond.
Celtic said Rodgers “tendered his resignation” late on Monday night, a day after the club’s defeat at Premiership leaders Hearts. Former boss Martin O’Neill will take interim charge, 20 years on from his first spell as manager.
But a bombshell statement from the major shareholder Desmond dropped 15 minutes after Rodgers’ departure was confirmed, in which Desmond accused him of having “contributed to a toxic atmosphere” around the club.
Rodgers had been critical of Celtic’s transfer business over the summer, and there was further discontent among the club’s supporters following their Champions League play-off defeat to Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan.
The Scottish champions have also made a dismal start to the Premiership season and trail the league leaders Hearts by eight points following their 3-1 defeat at Tynecastle on Sunday, leading to further anger directed at the club’s board.
Desmond, however, looked to offer his side of the events as he wrote: “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.”
Desmond claimed that Rodgers was told in July that Celtic were keen to offer him a contract extension. “Yet in subsequent press conferences, Brendan implied that the club had made no commitment to offer him a contract. That was simply untrue,” Desmond said.
Desmond also said Rodgers would regularly meet with the board to discuss their transfer plans and that “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,” Desmond said, adding: “His later public statements about transfers and club operations came entirely out of the blue.”
The statement continued: “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.”
Rodgers voiced his frustration over Celtic’s transfer business in the summer after the club failed to replace star forward Kyogo Furuhashi and then sold Nicolas Kuhn after losing fellow winger Jota to a long-term injury.
The only attacking arrival before the Kairat tie was Shin Yamada, who had only scored two goals in 21 J-League games and has not featured for two months.
Celtic also sold striker Adam Idah to Swansea before the transfer deadline while adding two left wingers, Michel-Ange Balikwisha and Sebastian Tounekti, as well as free agent striker Kelechi Iheanacho.
After a 2-0 defeat to Dundee, Rodgers’ expressed further frustration at his squad when he compared the players at his disposal to a “Honda Civic”.
“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,” Rodgers said.
Former Liverpool manager Rodgers won seven trophies with Celtic before leaving the club to take charge of Leicester in 2019, a move that upset many supporters. He returned to Glasgow to replace Ange Postecoglou in 2023.
Rodgers won two more Scottish Premiership titles, as well as a Scottish Cup and League Cup, in his two full seasons in charge and also reached the Champions League knockout play-offs last season.
Celtic lost narrowly to Bayern Munich but their opportunity to make further progress in Europe was lost following their defeat to Kairat on penalties in August.
Includes reporting from PA
