The Way Irretrievable Collapse Led to a Savage Parting for Brendan Rodgers & Celtic

Just a quarter of an hour following the club released the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' surprising departure via a brief five-paragraph statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

In an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond savaged his old chum.

This individual he persuaded to come to the club when Rangers were gaining ground in 2016 and required being back in a box. And the figure he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

So intense was the ferocity of Desmond's critique, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an continuous series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Based on comments he has expressed recently, he has been eager to secure a new position. He will view this one as the ultimate opportunity, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and adulation.

Would he give it up easily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well reach out to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the brutal way Desmond described Rodgers.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the cost of others," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes propriety and sets high importance in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, this was another illustration of how unusual things have become at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's most powerful presence, operates in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to take all the important decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He never attend club annual meetings, sending his offspring, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to support the club with private missives to media organisations, but nothing is heard in the open.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to be. And that's just what he went against when going full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

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

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it's fair to ask why was the coach not dismissed?

Desmond has accused him of spinning information in public that did not tally with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a toxic environment around the club and fuelled animosity towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

What an extraordinary charge, that is. Lawyers might be mobilising as we speak.

'Rodgers' Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Again

Looking back to better times, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

It was the figure who took the criticism when Rodgers' comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

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

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the honors, and an fragile peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his goals came in contact with the club's operational approach, however.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with added intensity, recently. He publicly commented about the sluggish way the team went about their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be secured, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

Time and again he spoke about the necessity for what he called "agility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent unprecedented sums of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly another player and the £6m further acquisition - all of whom have performed well so far, with one already having left - the manager pushed for more and more and, often, he expressed this in openly.

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

Internal issues? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It appeared like he was engaging in a dangerous game.

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that purportedly originated from a source close to the organization. It claimed that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

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

Supporters were angered. They now saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his directors wouldn't support his vision to achieve success.

This disclosure was poisonous, naturally, and it was meant to harm him, which it did. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be removed. If there was a examination then we heard nothing further about it.

At that point it was plain Rodgers was losing the backing of the people above him.

The regular {gripes