The Way Irretrievable Breakdown Resulted in a Savage Separation for Rodgers & Celtic

Just a quarter of an hour following the club released the announcement of their manager's shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the howitzer landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

In 551-words, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he convinced to join the club when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and needed putting back in a box. And the man he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

So intense was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the jaw-dropping comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his recent life was given over to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering things he has said recently, he has been eager to get a new position. He will view this role as the ultimate chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he experienced such success and adulation.

Would he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic could possibly reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the most significant shocking moment was the harsh manner Desmond described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For a person who values propriety and places great store in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, here was a further example of how unusual things have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's dominant figure, operates in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the authority to make all the important decisions he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never attend club AGMs, dispatching his offspring, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's reluctant to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to support the organization with confidential missives to media organisations, but nothing is made in public.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And it's exactly what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on the manager on that day.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reading Desmond's criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why did he permit it to reach this far down the line?

If Rodgers is guilty of every one of the things that Desmond is claiming he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the coach not dismissed?

He has charged him of distorting things in open forums that were inconsistent with reality.

He claims his statements "played a part to a hostile atmosphere around the team and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and unacceptable."

What an extraordinary charge, that is. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we discuss.

His Aspirations Conflicted with Celtic's Model Again

To return to happier times, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised Desmond at every turn, thanked him every chance. Rodgers respected Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.

This was the figure who took the heat when Rodgers' comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive appointment, the return of the returning hero for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had his support. Gradually, the manager turned on the persuasion, delivered the victories and the honors, and an fragile peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a moment when Rodgers' ambition came in contact with Celtic's business model, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired once more, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers publicly commented about the slow way Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then missed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he termed "agility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it so far, with one already having left - the manager demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the club and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next news conference he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous game.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly originated from a source close to the organization. It said that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his departure plan.

He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his way out, this was the tone of the story.

The fans were enraged. They then saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his directors wouldn't back his vision to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to harm him, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the people above him.

The regular {gripes