8 hours ago
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Slammed by the owner
©IMAGO
Celtic FC and manager Brendan Rodgers have parted ways. The Scottish Premiership club announced that Rodgers had tendered his resignation on Monday. The decision comes just over 24 hours after Celtic lost a crucial match to title challengers Hearts of Midlothian on Sunday. That result leaves Celtic eight points adrift from first place.
In a statement released by the club, owner Dermot Desmond expressed his disappointment with how the season has unfolded. “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,” Desmond wrote in a letter to the fans. “However, I must also express my deep disappointment at the way the past several months have unfolded.”
Desmond went further. The letter went on to complain about Rodgers' lack of commitment to the club. Desmond also wrote that Celtic had offered Rodgers a new contract in June, and he expressed his frustration that the 52-year-old had publicly implied there had been no contract talks. “Brendan implied that the club had made no commitment to offer him a contract,” the statement said. “That was simply untrue.”
Failed transfer policy? “We had a collective strategy”
The Celtic owner also slammed Rodgers for his public comments regarding the club’s transfer policy. “Every player signed, and every player sold during his tenure was done so with Brendan’s full knowledge, approval, and endorsement,” Desmond wrote. “Any insinuation otherwise is absolutely false.” Celtic spent €15.13m on new players while generating over €30m in player sales income. Only Rangers (€29.71m) have spent more this summer.
In comparison, Hearts, who beat Celtic 3-1 on Sunday, have spent just €2.97m on new players last summer. In Rodgers' defense, Celtic did lose several key players. The Glasgow giants sold Nicolas Kühn to Como for €19m and Adam Idah to Swansea for €6.9m. Last season, they sold Matt O’Riley for €29.5m to Brighton and Kyogo Furuhashi to Stade Rennais for €12m. In fact, since Rodgers returned to the club in the summer of 2023, Celtic have made €133m from player sales and spent just €88m on new players to replace the departing stars. But according to Desmond, Rodgers was on board with those changes.
Perhaps a more important factor has been the absence of several crucial players. On Sunday, Celtic were without Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alistair Johnston, Diego Jota, and Daizen Maeda. Still, given Celtic's financial might compared to the likes of Hearts, the results will be a major disappointment to most Celtic fans. And it isn’t just in the league either. The club also struggled in Europe, where they failed to qualify for the Champions League group stage and have one of their three Europa League matches. In other words, officially, Rodgers might have handed in his resignation, but he might have been gone either way.
