How Unrecoverable Collapse Resulted in a Savage Separation for Rodgers & Celtic

Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of their manager's surprising resignation via a perfunctory short statement, the bombshell landed, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

Through an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

This individual he convinced to join the club when Rangers were gaining ground in 2016 and required being back in a box. Plus the figure he once more turned to after the previous manager departed to another club in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing return of the former boss was almost an after-thought.

Two decades after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and maybe for a while. Based on things he has said lately, he has been keen to secure another job. He will see this one as the perfect opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Would he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic could possibly make a call to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the harsh manner the shareholder described Rodgers.

This constituted a forceful endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's desire for self-interest at the expense of others," stated he.

For somebody who values decorum and places great store in business being done with discretion, if not outright secrecy, this was a further example of how abnormal things have become at the club.

Desmond, the club's most powerful presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the authority to make all the major decisions he wants without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

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

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the organization with confidential messages to news outlets, but nothing is made in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And that's just what he went against when launching all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reading Desmond's invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he allow it to reach such a critical point?

If Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why had been the coach not removed?

He has charged him of spinning information in public that were inconsistent with reality.

He says Rodgers' words "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the club and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the management and the directors. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

What an remarkable allegation, that is. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

His Aspirations Clashed with the Club's Strategy Again

To return to happier days, they were close, the two men. Rodgers lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan respected Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.

This was Desmond who drew the heat when his returned occurred, after the previous manager.

This marked the most divisive hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had his support. Over time, Rodgers employed the charm, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the supporters became a love-in again.

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

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish process Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the need for what he called "flexibility" in the market. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the organization splurged record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with one already having departed - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, often, he did it in openly.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the team and then walked away. When asked about his comments at his subsequent news conference he would typically minimize it and almost contradict what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a risky game.

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly originated from a source close to the club. It claimed that Rodgers was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be there and he was engineering his exit, this was the tone of the article.

The fans were enraged. They then saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his directors did not support his vision to achieve success.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it did. He demanded for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be removed. If there was a probe then we heard no more about it.

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

The regular {gripes