Brendan Rodgers leaves Celtic having won 11 trophies from a possible 13 | OneFootball

Brendan Rodgers’ resigns as Celtic manager having won 11 trophies from a possible 13 over a five year period. That is his legacy…Thank you Brendan.

Brendan Rodgers with the Premier Sports Cup after Celtic’s victory over theRangers on 15 December 2024 at Hampden Park. Photo Kenny Ramsay

Yet, last night, principal shareholder Dermot Desmond released a public evisceration of Rodgers on the official Celtic FC website, to place all the blame for what went wrong at the club this summer squarely on the now former Celtic boss. You couldn’t mark Desmond’s neck with a blowtorch.

It reads like a personal statement of the principal shareholder. It appears Dermot is extremely angry that Rodgers resigned and he didn’t get the chance to give him the bullet.

What Desmond is attempting is clear: to rewrite the story so that Rodgers shoulders all the blame – for recruitment failures, for being eight points behind Hearts, for crashing out of the Champions League to Kairat Almaty, and for the toxic atmosphere between supporters and the boardroom. Is Rodgers blameless? Of course not. But for Desmond to absolve himself entirely is an act of staggering audacity, but not overly surprising.

Brendan Rodgers and Callum McGregor with the Premier Sports Cup after the victory over theRangers at Hampden on 15 December 2024. Photo AJ for The Celtic Star

Don’t fall for it – Desmond and the executives are the ones responsible. They have displayed utter mismanagement and contempt for supporters after a shambolic window. They are the ones who have regressed the club and pushed it into perpetual decline. Rodgers was right to resign, but should have done it in the summer.

The issues at Celtic will keep resurfacing no matter how often they are brushed aside or blamed onto someone else; as long as Desmond holds majority influence, the board’s approach will stay the same, and the most supporters can hope for are managers capable of masking the board’s failings. Rodgers did this not only in his first spell, but he came back and done it again.

Brendan Rodgers with the Scottish Cup on 25 May 2024, after Celtic’s 1-0 win over theRangers in the final at Hampden Park. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

It was Rodgers who managed Celtic over the line in his first season back after being gifted wrapped nine Mark Lawwell duds. It was Rodgers who took Celtic to different levels in the Champions League last season despite the club taking a net profit of £3 million in the summer transfer window. Rodgers’ reward for nearly taking Bayern Munich to extra time in a CL knockout tie in February? The complete asset stripping of his squad. Sell his best player with the club failing to replace him. Sign five club signings. Spend £13 million. Hoard £77 million worth of cash reserves in the bank.

A reminder that on 6 October 2025, the board said: “The club do not accept that there is a disconnect between the board and the manager.”

How can anyone believe anything Desmond says? Last night’s farce has perfectly exposed just how unfit the Celtic board and its 34% principal shareholder are to lead the club. How on earth can anyone trust Desmond, Michael Nicholson or Chris McKay to recruit a new manager?

Also, why is it acceptable for a shareholder holding just 34.7% to freely sack and appoint managers, take control of the club’s communications on the official website, and use it to issue a vindictive and harmful statement? Where is the highly-paid CEO or Chairman in all of this? Was he sleeping when all this kicked off?

A pertinent point to finish – John Kennedy’s decision to walk alongside Rodgers speaks volumes on its own.

This is a guy who is a proper Celtic man. He missed out on two top jobs at Leicester and Spurs to stay at Celtic. I hope he goes onto have a long and successful career in coaching and management. Maybe one day we will see him back at Celtic Park.

Finally, I had the pleasure of speaking with Brendan regularly at media conferences representing The Celtic Star, and he was always thoughtful, open, and engaging. As mentioned from the outset of this piece, 11 domestic trophies from a possible 13 is an extraordinary record – one that cements his place among Celtic’s most successful managers. Whatever the noise and narrative that follows from inside the club, that will ALWAYS remain his legacy.

Conor Spence

Continues on the next page…

Here’s Dermot Desmond’s statement in full…

Celtic v RB Leipzig – UEFA Champions League – League Stage – Celtic Park Dermot Desmond in the stands ahead of the UEFA Champions League, league stage match at Celtic Park, on Tuesday November 5, 2024. Photo Andrew Milligan

Statement from Dermot Desmond to Celtic supporters

Brendan Rodgers has today tendered his resignation as manager of Celtic Football Club.

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 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.

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.

Dermot Desmond

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter, signed copies by Danny McGrain available from celticstarbooks.com

Don’t miss the chance to purchase the late, great Celtic historian David Potter’s final book. All remaining copies have been signed by the legendary Celtic captain  Danny McGrain PLUS you’ll also receive a FREE copy of David Potter’s Willie Fernie biography – Putting on the Style, and you’ll only be charged for postage on one book.  Order from Celtic Star Books HERE.

Celtic in the Eighties and Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style both by David Potter. Photo The Celtic Star

Danny McGrain signing copies of Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Photo: Celtic Star Books

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