The second Brendan Rodgers era at Celtic is over.
On Monday, the Northern Irishman decided enough was enough as he tendered his resignation as Hoops boss.
Legendary former Parkhead gaffer Martin O’Neill and the club’s current Professional Player Pathway Manager Shaun Maloney have been placed in interim charge.
Rodgers brought his second stint to a close after Celtic lost 3-1 to Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday, which has left the Bhoys eight points behind the Scottish Premiership leaders.
So how did we get to this sensational moment? 67 Hail Hail looks back at the three critical moments that led to Rodgers’ departure.
Awful summer transfer window
Celtic went into the summer 2025 transfer window off the back of winning the Premiership for the fourth successive season and another Premier Sports Cup.
Once again, they had the opportunity to build from a position of strength and continue to stay well ahead of the domestic opposition.
The window was also a chance to recruit strongly and aim to equal, and perhaps better, their tremendous run to the Champions League knockout phase play-offs.
Of course, it was a complete disaster.
Celtic had three months to replace Kyogo Furuhashi with a quality striker, and more than enough time to replace Nicolas Kuhn, who was sold in mid July.
Yet they spent just over £14m on players who, for the most part, are not good enough to play for the club.
Rodgers simply did not get the targets he wanted. The Celtic hierarchy’s lowball bidding strategy was a painful theme across the window and that left them scrambling on deadline day.
Sebastian Tounekti, a left winger, was the only addition on September 1, while Kelechi Iheanacho was a free agent signing after the window had closed – embarrassing.
Failure to qualify for Champions League
The poor recruitment was certainly a factor in the Champions League play-off defeat to Kairat Almaty, but not the biggest.
Celtic were handed a tremendous draw against the Kazakhstan minnows, but two 0-0 draws and penalty shootout defeat dumped them into the Europa League.
The Hoops had more than enough quality in the side to beat Kairat, despite what wasn’t done in the summer transfers-wise.
Rodgers had to take the can for that, but in later press conferences, he would make it clear that it was down to the recruitment.
Honda Civic jibe
Just last weekend, Celtic lost to Dundee and Rodgers’ comments after the game were clearly, in retrospect, the beginning of the end.
He said that you can’t expect to drive your car like a Ferrari when you’ve been given keys to a Honda Civic, again a clear blast at the Hoops board for the shoddy recruitment.
Rodgers clarified that it was due to the lack of speed in his squad compared to last season, but everyone knew exactly what he meant.
It was his strongest albeit indirect swipe at the board yet, as well as a disrespectful comment towards his players, especially senior figures inside the dressing room such as Callum McGregor.
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