The Way Unrecoverable Collapse Resulted in a Brutal Parting for Rodgers & Celtic FC

Merely fifteen minutes following Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's surprising departure via a brief short statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

In 551-words, major shareholder Desmond savaged his old chum.

This individual he convinced to join the club when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and needed putting back in a box. Plus the figure he once more relied on after the previous manager left for another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the severity of Desmond's critique, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after much of his recent life was dedicated to an continuous circuit of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his old hits at the team, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Considering things he has said recently, he has been keen to secure another job. He'll view this one as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.

Will he relinquish it easily? It seems unlikely. The club might well make a call to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it may be - can be parked because the biggest shocking development was the brutal way the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

It was a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the cost of others," stated he.

For somebody who prizes propriety and places great store in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, this was another illustration of how abnormal situations have become at the club.

Desmond, the organization's dominant figure, operates in the background. The remote leader, the one with the authority to take all the important decisions he wants without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He never participate in team annual meetings, sending his offspring, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's slow to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to defend the organization with private missives to news outlets, but nothing is heard in the open.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And it's exactly what he went against when launching all-out attack on the manager on that day.

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

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of all of the things that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why had been the coach not removed?

He has charged him of spinning things in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says Rodgers' words "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the management and the board. A portion of the criticism directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

Such an remarkable allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

His Aspirations Conflicted with Celtic's Model Again

Looking back to happier times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager lauded Desmond at every turn, thanked him every chance. Rodgers respected him and, truly, to no one other.

It was Desmond who took the criticism when his comeback occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who departed in the lurch for Leicester.

The shareholder had his support. Over time, the manager employed the charm, delivered the victories and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship again.

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

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. Rodgers publicly commented about the slow way the team went about their player acquisitions, the endless waiting for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he termed "flexibility" in the market. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the organization splurged unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly another player and the significant Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well so far, with one since having departed - the manager demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in public.

He planted a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his next news conference he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

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

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source close to the club. It said that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his departure plan.

He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his exit, that was the tone of the story.

Supporters were angered. They then viewed him as akin to a martyr who might be carried out on his shield because his directors wouldn't back his plans to achieve success.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was intended to hurt him, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a examination then we learned nothing further about it.

By then it was plain Rodgers was losing the backing of the individuals above him.

The regular {gripes