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

Just a quarter of an hour following Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's shock resignation via a brief short statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent anger.

Through an extensive statement, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he persuaded to join the club when Rangers were gaining ground in that period and needed putting in their place. Plus the man he once more turned to after the previous manager departed to another club in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of his critique, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Based on things he has said recently, he has been eager to get another job. He will see this role as the perfect chance, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Will he give it up easily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic could possibly reach out to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will serve as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' development was the brutal way the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a forceful endeavor at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For somebody who prizes decorum and sets high importance in business being done with discretion, if not outright secrecy, here was a further illustration of how abnormal situations have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the power to make all the important calls he wants without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not attend team annual meetings, dispatching his son, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the club with confidential missives to media organisations, but no statement is heard in the open.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to remain. And it's exactly what he went against when going all-out attack on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the team is that he resigned, but reading Desmond's criticism, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to reach this far down the line?

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

Desmond has accused him of distorting information in open forums that did not tally with reality.

He says his statements "have contributed to a hostile environment around the team and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the management and the board. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

What an remarkable allegation, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Model Once More'

Looking back to happier times, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised Desmond at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to Dermot and, truly, to no one other.

It was the figure who drew the criticism when his comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the returning hero for some supporters or, as other supporters would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for another club.

The shareholder had Rodgers' support. Over time, the manager turned on the charm, delivered the victories and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the fans became a love-in once more.

There was always - always - going to be a point when his goals clashed with the club's business model, though.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with added intensity, over the last year. He publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic went about their transfer business, the interminable delay for prospects to be secured, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Repeatedly he spoke about the necessity for what he called "agility" in the transfer window. The fans agreed with him.

Even when the club spent record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have performed well so far, with Idah already having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He set a bomb about a internal disunity within the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would usually minimize it and almost contradict what he stated.

Internal issues? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a risky strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a insider associated with the club. It said that Rodgers was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

He desired not to be present and he was engineering his way out, this was the tone of the article.

Supporters were angered. They now viewed him as similar 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 meant to harm him, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a examination then we heard no more about it.

At that point it was plain the manager was shedding the support of the people above him.

The regular {gripes