🔗 Share this article

Merely a quarter of an hour following the club issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' surprising departure via a perfunctory five-paragraph communication, the howitzer landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in apparent anger.

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

This individual he convinced to come to the team when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and needed putting in their place. Plus the man he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of Desmond's takedown, the jaw-dropping comeback of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

Currently - and perhaps for a while. Considering things he has said recently, he has been keen to secure a new position. He'll see this one as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such glory and praise.

Would he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly reach out to sound out Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' development was the brutal manner Desmond wrote of the former manager.

It was a forceful endeavor at defamation, a labeling of him as untrustful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes decorum and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, this was a further illustration of how abnormal situations have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to take all the important decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not participate in team AGMs, sending his offspring, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And still, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the organization with confidential messages to media organisations, but nothing is made in the open.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And that's exactly what he went against when launching full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

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

Assuming the manager is guilty of every one of the things that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it's fair to inquire why was the coach not removed?

He has accused him of spinning things in open forums that did not tally with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a hostile environment around the club and encouraged hostility towards individuals of the management and the directors. A portion of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

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

His Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Model Once More'

To return to better times, they were close, the two men. The manager praised the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers respected Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

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

It was the most divisive hiring, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as other supporters would have put it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

The shareholder had Rodgers' back. Over time, Rodgers employed the charm, achieved the wins and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

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

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with added intensity, recently. He spoke openly about the sluggish process Celtic conducted their transfer business, the endless waiting for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the necessity for what he termed "flexibility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the club splurged record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - all of whom have performed well to date, with Idah already having departed - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, often, he expressed this in public.

He set a bomb about a internal disunity within the club and then walked away. When asked about his comments at his next media briefing he would usually minimize it and almost contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It looked like he was playing a risky strategy.

A few months back there was a story in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source close to the organization. It said that Rodgers was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He desired not to be present and he was arranging his exit, that was the tone of the story.

The fans were enraged. They then saw him as similar to a martyr who might be removed on his honor because his directors wouldn't support his plans to achieve triumph.

The leak was damaging, of course, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was clear the manager was shedding the support of the people in charge.

The frequent {gripes