The Way Irretrievable Collapse Resulted in a Savage Parting for Brendan Rodgers & Celtic

Just fifteen minutes following Celtic issued the news of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph communication, the howitzer arrived, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

In an extensive statement, major shareholder Dermot Desmond savaged his former ally.

This individual he persuaded to join the club when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. Plus the man he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the severity of his takedown, the astonishing return of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after a large part of his recent life was given over to an unending series of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

Currently - and maybe for a while. Considering things he has said recently, he has been keen to secure another job. He'll view this role as the perfect opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.

Would he relinquish it easily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly reach out to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's return - however strange as it is - can be parked because the most significant shocking moment was the brutal manner the shareholder described the former manager.

This constituted a forceful attempt at character assassination, a labeling of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote he.

For a person who prizes decorum and places great store in dealings being done with discretion, if not outright secrecy, this was another illustration of how unusual situations have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's most powerful presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to take all the important decisions he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He never attend team AGMs, sending his offspring, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the organization with confidential missives to media organisations, but nothing is made in the open.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And that's exactly what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reading his criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get this far down the line?

If the manager is culpable of every one of the accusations that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the manager not dismissed?

He has accused him of distorting things in public that did not tally with the facts.

He claims his words "played a part to a hostile environment around the team and encouraged hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the board. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

What an remarkable charge, indeed. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

His Ambition Conflicted with the Club's Strategy Again

Looking back to happier days, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers respected Dermot and, truly, to no one other.

This was the figure who took the criticism when Rodgers' comeback happened, after the previous manager.

It was the most controversial appointment, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had Rodgers' support. Over time, Rodgers employed the persuasion, achieved the wins and the honors, and an fragile truce with the supporters turned into a love-in again.

There was always - consistently - going to be a moment when Rodgers' ambition came in contact with Celtic's operational approach, however.

It happened in his initial tenure and it happened again, with added intensity, over the last year. Rodgers publicly commented about the slow way the team conducted their transfer business, the endless delay for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he termed "flexibility" in the transfer window. Supporters agreed with him.

Even when the organization spent unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - all of whom have performed well so far, with Idah already having departed - Rodgers demanded more and more and, often, he did it in openly.

He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his next news conference he would usually downplay it and almost reverse what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a risky strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a source close to the club. It claimed that the manager was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be present and he was arranging his exit, that was the implication of the article.

The fans were angered. They then viewed him as akin to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his board members wouldn't back his plans to achieve success.

This disclosure was damaging, of course, and it was intended to hurt him, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be removed. If there was a probe then we heard no more about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was losing the backing of the people in charge.

The frequent {gripes