Celtic confirm shock departure of cup winning duo as SWPL outfit reveal club's retained list
The Scottish Women’s Premier League [SWPL] have confirmed the departure of a key duo.
Celtic have announced the dual departure of Emma Lawton and Saoirse Noonan just weeks after the pair helped the club win the Women’s Scottish Cup.
The SWPL club confirmed their retained list following the conclusion of the 2025/26 season this morning, with Scotland international Lawton and top scorer Noonan heading the list of summer departures, with their exit confirmed via the club’s official social media channels.
Lawton, who had become a regular in the Scotland side since her move from Partick Thistle 21 months ago, comes as a major surprise due to her still having a year to run on her current deal with Celtic. Her next move is yet to be confirmed.
Agreeing a three-year deal alongside Morgan Cross upon her arrival at Celtic, she has been named in the SWPL’s team of the year for the last two seasons running, and capped a total of 12 times since making her debut in a 1–0 defeat to Austria in the Women's Nations League back in February 2025.
Noonan will leave Celtic after scoring 50 goals since her arrival from Durham two seasons ago. The Republic of Ireland international set up the winner in Celtic’s 1-0 Women’s Scottish Cup win over Rangers last month, but the club have now confirmed their top scorer will depart when her contract expires. Swedish midfielder Emma Westin has also been released.
Speaking after the victory at Hampden last month, Celtic boss Grant Scott admitted he was looking to make changes ahead of the 2026/27 campaign after the club ended in a disappointing fifth place in the SWPL, despite their Scottish Cup success.
“It’s something I have in my mind that I’d like to put some new parameters on the group and a new expectation level,” said Grant. “Having done the small bits of that over the last five months, today gives me the option to dictate a few more things as we go forward. Brilliant finish to the season, and we’ll take the forward as a motivating tool, but I hope that this team will look to different to what it has in the last five months when we arrive at the new season.
Lawton, who was sent off in the cup final victory against Rangers, spoke her experience of moving to Celtic in the aftermath of that victory too, saying: “I’ve not really had a break since that moment I signed for Celtic. I’ve been non stop. I’ve not really had the time to process it. I’ve just tried to take everything in my stride and this is another part of my journey.
“This move gave me confidence. I was probably at a stage in my career where it was now or never to make the step to full-time [football], and Celtic gave me that opportunity. It has gave me confidence in myself that I can go on and be at this level, be at Scotland level. I’ve got a lot to develop, but it’s given me the confidence that I can do it.”
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