Why has Brendan Rodgers resigned? Celtic row explained as Martin O'Neill makes dramatic return

However, on Monday, it was confirmed that the Rodgers era was over. A 2-1 defeat to Hearts over the weekend, that left his side eight points off the top, has now prompted his decision to walk away.

What began two years ago as a homecoming filled with optimism has unravelled into a bitter and very public breakdown between the manager and the club’s hierarchy — one that Dermot Desmond, Celtic’s principal shareholder, has now laid bare in an extraordinary statement accusing Rodgers of betrayal, dishonesty, and self-interest.

It all started in the summer. Before the transfer window closed, Rodgers made little effort to conceal his frustration with recruitment.

His press conferences became increasingly pointed, the language carefully measured but unmistakably laced with dissatisfaction.

For all his insistence that he was focused on football, there was a clear sense that he believed he was not being backed in the market.

The tensions grew after Celtic’s disastrous Champions League exit at the hands of Kairat Almaty, a defeat that cut deep both financially and emotionally.

The result exposed the gulf between the club’s ambitions and its capabilities, and the finger-pointing began almost immediately.

Rodgers implied that he had not been given the players he had requested, while the board maintained that he had signed off on every deal.

It was the first public crack in a relationship that had once seemed unbreakable.

Then came the domestic struggles, something that had previously been seen as unfeasible.

The Scottish champions, normally ruthless at home, looked disjointed and short of confidence. Their famed attacking rhythm faltered while Hearts raced ahead at the top of the table.

A shock defeat to Dundee last weekend deepened the crisis. Rodgers, visibly exasperated, reached for an uncharacteristically blunt analogy.

“You can’t expect to win races if you’re driving a Honda Civic when others have Ferraris,” he said — a thinly veiled swipe at Celtic’s board and transfer policy.

If there was any remaining doubt about his disillusionment, that comment removed it.

A routine Europa League victory in midweek briefly steadied the mood, but Rodgers returned to the same theme afterwards, again lamenting his “limited resources.”

When Celtic were beaten by Hearts on Sunday, the mood soured completely.

The fans turned on both the manager and the board, and within 24 hours Rodgers was gone.

Desmond’s response was swift and scathing. In a statement that stretched to more than 500 words, the Irish billionaire accused Rodgers of misleading supporters and undermining the club.

“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,” Desmond wrote.

“Unfortunately, his conduct and communication in recent months have not reflected that trust.”

He went further, claiming that Rodgers had distorted the truth about his relationship with the board.

“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,” Desmond said.

“Yet in subsequent press conferences, Brendan implied that the club had made no commitment to offer him a contract. That was simply untrue.”

Desmond insisted that Rodgers had been granted full authority over signings and that every transfer had been made with his approval.

“Any insinuation otherwise is absolutely false,” he said, accusing the former manager of creating “a toxic atmosphere” with “divisive, misleading, and self-serving” remarks.

The message was clear: in Desmond’s eyes, Rodgers had crossed a line from criticism into disloyalty.

“What has failed recently was not due to our structure or model,” Desmond concluded, “but to one individual’s desire for self-preservation at the expense of others.”

Behind the corporate language lies a simple truth — trust between manager and club had completely eroded.

Rodgers believed he had not been supported adequately in the market; the board believed he had turned that frustration into a public smear campaign.

Now, with Martin O’Neill returning as caretaker alongside Shaun Maloney, Celtic are left to pick up the pieces of a fractured season. Whether they can reel in Hearts, who are eight points clear at the summit, remains to be seen.