🔗 Share this article

Merely a quarter of an hour after Celtic issued the news of their manager's surprising departure via a perfunctory five-paragraph communication, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent fury.

In an extensive statement, key investor Dermot Desmond savaged his former ally.

The man he persuaded to come to the team when Rangers were gaining ground in that period and required being in their place. And the man he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the recent offseason.

Such was the severity of his critique, the astonishing return of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an unending circuit of appearances and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and maybe for a while. Based on things he has said recently, O'Neill has been eager to get another job. He'll view this one as the ultimate chance, a present from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and praise.

Will he relinquish it readily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will serve as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the biggest shocking development was the brutal manner the shareholder wrote of Rodgers.

It was a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a branding of him as deceitful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes decorum and places great store in business being done with discretion, if not outright secrecy, this was a further example of how abnormal situations have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's dominant figure, operates in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the authority to make all the major decisions he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not attend team AGMs, dispatching his son, his son, instead. He rarely, if ever, does interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the organization with private messages to media organisations, but nothing is heard in public.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to remain. And that's just what he contradicted when going all-out attack on Rodgers 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 reach such a critical point?

If the manager is guilty of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is alleging he's responsible for, then it's fair to ask why was the coach not removed?

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

He claims his words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the team and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the management and the directors. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

What an remarkable charge, indeed. Lawyers might be mobilising as we discuss.

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

To return to better times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised the shareholder at every turn, thanked him every chance. Rodgers respected Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.

This was the figure who drew the heat when Rodgers' comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most controversial hiring, the reappearance of the returning hero for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

Desmond had his 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.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his goals clashed with Celtic's operational approach, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. He publicly commented about the sluggish way the team conducted their transfer business, the endless delay for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was concerned.

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

Despite the organization splurged record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the £9m another player and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have cut it to date, with one since having departed - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, often, he did it in public.

He set a bomb about a internal disunity inside the club and then walked away. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next media briefing he would usually downplay it and nearly reverse what he said.

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

Earlier this year there was a story in a newspaper that purportedly originated from a insider associated with the club. It said that Rodgers was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his way out, this was the tone of the article.

Supporters were enraged. They now saw him as akin to a martyr who might be carried out on his shield because his board members wouldn't support his vision to bring success.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was intended to hurt him, which it accomplished. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

At that point it was plain Rodgers was shedding the support of the individuals above him.

The regular {gripes