Celtic supporters were hit with some earth-shattering news on Monday night when it was confirmed that Brendan Rodgers had tendered his resignation at Parkhead.
The Northern Irish head coach, who was in his second spell as the club’s manager, decided to move on from Glasgow after a 3-1 defeat to Hearts in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
That result left the Premiership champions eight points behind Hearts in the table, and the next manager will have to attempt to close that gap to avoid missing out on the title.
Martin O’Neill has been brought in as an interim manager, despite backing Hearts to win the title as a pundit at the start of the week, and will be in charge against Falkirk this evening.
Whilst O’Neill leads the club in the short-term, the board will be scouring the globe in search of a manager who can be an upgrade on Brendan Rodgers.
Why Celtic need an upgrade on Brendan Rodgers
The Northern Irish boss had great success during his time with the Hoops, which cannot be doubted, as his record at the club is an impressive one.
As you can see in the graphic above, the former Liverpool manager won four trophies in his two full seasons back at Parkhead in the 2023/24 and 2024/25 campaigns, with two Premiership titles, an SFA Cup, and a League Cup.
However, whether it was entirely down to his coaching or down to the recruitment done by the club, the football on the pitch seemed to become stale this season.
There were flashes of real quality from Celtic as a team, such as the 2-1 win over Sturm Graz last week in the Europa League, but there were too many poor performances around that.
For example, the Hoops lost their last two Premiership games under Rodgers and failed to score a single goal in six of their 16 matches in all competitions, per Transfermarkt.
Matches managed
50
57
16
Goals scored
121
167
25
Goals scored per game
2.42
2.92
1.56
Points per game
2.24
2.26
1.78
Games without a goal scored
8
5
6
Games per goalless performance
6.25
11.4
2.66
As you can see in the table above, the team’s attacking play took a huge hit this season under the former Leicester boss, which is something that the next manager will have to address.
The Scottish giants need to find a new head coach who can come in and ignite the team’s attacking play to get the season back on track, and get the fans at Parkhead excited to watch their side play football.
Celtic have title-winning boss on their radar
Plenty of names have already been linked with the vacant post at Parkhead, including Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna and former Hoops boss Ange Postecoglou.
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According to the Daily Record, though, Bodo/Glimt head coach Kjetil Knutsen is one of the names on the club’s radar as they search for a replacement for Brendan Rodgers.
The report claims that the Norwegian boss is ‘back on the Celtic radar’ after the Northern Irishman’s resignation, adding that he has been ‘constantly touted’ with the Hoops job in recent years.
It notes that Knutsen’s contract with Bodo/Glimt is due to expire at the end of the calendar year, which means that the Scottish giants may have the perfect opening to make a move for him.
However, the Daily Record does not reveal whether or not the 4-3-3 head coach would be interested in making the move to Parkhead after a long spell with his current side in his home country.
Why Celtic should push to appoint Kjetil Knutsen
The Celtic board should push to convince Knutsen to replace Rodgers in the dugout in Glasgow because he could arrive as a big upgrade on the former Liverpool manager.
As aforementioned, possibly the biggest problem Rodgers had with the Hoops this season was coaching them to be an effective and ruthless attacking unit, as there have been far too many goalless performances so far this term.
That may not be an issue with the way that Knutsen sets his team up. Former captain Bodo/Glimt Ulrik Saltnes described his playing style as “kamikaze”, which suggests that it is an all-action and exciting brand of football.
Since the start of the 2023/24 campaign, per Transfermarkt, Bodo/Glimt have only failed to score in seven of their 103 matches in all competitions, which speaks to how prolific they are, given that Celtic have failed to score in six of their 16 games this term.
2025
26
70
2024
30
71
2023
30
78
2022
30
86
2021
30
59
2020
30
103
2019
30
64
As you can see in the table above, Knutsen knows how to set a team up to consistently score goals at league level, whilst competing for titles.
Per Transfermarkt, the Norwegian head coach has won four of the last five Eliteserien titles, and his team are currently one point off first place with a game in hand, with four matches left to play, in the 2025 campaign.
Knutsen, as highlighted in the post above, likes to play progressive football with an emphasis on wing play, which would come as music to Sebastian Tounekti’s ears.
The Tunisia international has completed 2.0 dribbles per game on average in the Premiership, per Sofascore, and could thrive under a manager who makes wing play a significant part of his attacking structure.
Overall, Knutsen could arrive as an upgrade on Rodgers because of his history of coaching a consistent and lethal attack, whilst also winning titles, so he could come in and solve the team’s main issue this season, which has been scoring goals consistently.