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

Just fifteen minutes after Celtic released the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock departure via a perfunctory short communication, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious fury.

Through 551-words, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

The man he persuaded to come to the club when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting in their place. Plus the figure he again turned to after the previous manager departed to another club in the recent offseason.

So intense was the ferocity of his takedown, the jaw-dropping comeback of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous circuit of appearances and the playing of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Considering things he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been eager to secure a new position. He will view this one as the ultimate chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such glory and adulation.

Would he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. The club might well make a call to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest shocking moment was the harsh manner the shareholder described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For a person who values decorum and sets high importance in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, this was another illustration of how abnormal things have grown at the club.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the authority to make all the major calls he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never participate in club AGMs, sending his son, his son, in his place. He rarely, if ever, does interviews about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

He has been known on an occasion or two to support the club with confidential missives to news outlets, but nothing is heard in the open.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And it's exactly what he contradicted when going all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reading his criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why did he permit it to reach such a critical point?

If Rodgers is guilty of all of the accusations that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why had been the coach not dismissed?

He has accused him of distorting information in public that did not tally with reality.

He says his words "played a part to a hostile atmosphere around the club and encouraged hostility towards individuals of the management and the board. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary allegation, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to better times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.

This was Desmond who drew the criticism when Rodgers' comeback happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most divisive hiring, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for Leicester.

Desmond had Rodgers' support. Over time, Rodgers turned on the charm, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an fragile peace with the supporters became a love-in once more.

There was always - consistently - going to be a point when his goals clashed with Celtic's business model, however.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the slow way the team conducted their player acquisitions, the endless delay for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.

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

Despite the organization splurged record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly another player and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well so far, with one since having left - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, often, he expressed this in openly.

He set a bomb about a internal disunity inside the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his next news conference he would usually minimize it and almost reverse what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that allegedly originated from a source associated with the organization. It claimed that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.

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

The fans were angered. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his board members wouldn't back his vision to bring triumph.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the guilty person 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 support of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes