CELTIC BOSS BRENDAN RODGERS RESIGNS

Brendan Rodgers resigned as Celtic manager on Monday, the club announced, after the Scottish giants' poor start to the season.
Former manager Martin O'Neill and former player Shaun Maloney will take charge of the team on a temporary basis until a permanent successor is appointed, the club said.

Rodgers' second stint at Celtic was cut short after Sunday's 3-1 Scottish Premiership defeat.
"Celtic football manager Brendan Rodgers has tendered his resignation" and "will leave his post with immediate effect", Celtic said in a statement.

"Brendan leaves with our thanks for the role he has played in a successful period for the club and we wish him every success in the future."The club added that a successor was already being looked for.

"We are pleased that in the meantime ex-Celtic manager, Martin O'Neill and ex-Celtic player, Shaun Maloney have assumed the responsibilities of Celtic first-team duties," it read.

Rodgers, 52, started a second spell at Celtic Park in 2023, winning consecutive titles, to add to his league victories in 2017 and 2018.
He has also managed Swansea, Liverpool and Leicester and returned to Celtic for a second time in June 2023 as a replacement for Ange Postecoglou.

The Northern Irishman had been at Celtic from May 2016 to February 2019, claiming consecutive league and cup trebles.
His first season in charge saw Celtic finish the campaign with a record 106 points and become the first Scottish side to complete a top-flight season unbeaten since 1899.

Rodgers added to Celtic's domestic supremacy by winning league titles in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons and also lifting the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup.
But storm clouds were gathering over the club this season with Celtic thrown out of the Champions League by Kazakhstan newcomers Kairat Almaty.

Rodgers had appeared at odds with his employers over their approach to the summer transfer window.
After Celtic's first defeat at Dundee in 37 years earlier this month, he said the side had "lost a lot of firepower, a lot of goals.".
"And there's no possibility you'll enter a race and be given the keys to a Honda Civic and say, 'I'd like you to drive it like a Ferrari'. It's not going to happen."

Celtic's major shareholder Dermot Desmond reacted, saying Rodgers' criticism had come "totally out of the blue"."At no stage prior to those remarks had he ever indicated to me, Michael (Nicholson, chief executive), or any member of the board or executive team that he had such concerns," Desmond said.

"He was, in fact, given final say on all football matters and was consistently backed during the recruitment process -- including unprecedented player investment in players he personally identified and approved."