🔗 Share this article

Merely a quarter of an hour after Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's surprising resignation via a perfunctory short statement, the bombshell landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious anger.

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

This individual he convinced to join the club when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and needed putting in their place. And the figure he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing return of Martin O'Neill was practically an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after much of his latter years was dedicated to an unending circuit of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a while. Based on comments he has expressed recently, he has been eager to get a new position. He will see this one as the ultimate chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club could possibly make a call to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a balm for the time being.

All-out Effort at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - however strange as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest shocking moment was the brutal manner the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

It was a forceful attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," stated he.

For somebody who values propriety and places great store in business being done with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, here was a further illustration of how unusual things have become at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's most powerful presence, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the power to make all the important decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any open setting.

He does not participate in club annual meetings, sending his offspring, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

He has been known on an occasion or two to support the organization with private missives to news outlets, but nothing is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And that's exactly what he contradicted when going full thermonuclear on the manager on that day.

The official line from the club is that he resigned, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why did he permit it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming the manager is guilty of all of the things that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why was the coach not removed?

Desmond has charged him of spinning things in public that did not tally with reality.

He claims Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic environment around the team and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the management and the directors. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

Such an remarkable charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

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

Looking back to happier days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised Desmond at every turn, thanked him every chance. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, really, to no one other.

It was Desmond who took the criticism when his comeback happened, after the previous manager.

It was the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the returning hero for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an fragile peace with the supporters turned into a love-in once more.

There was always - always - going to be a moment when Rodgers' ambition clashed with the club's operational approach, however.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. He spoke openly about the sluggish way Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the endless waiting for prospects to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the organization spent unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have cut it so far, with Idah already having departed - the manager pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in openly.

He set a bomb about a internal disunity inside the club and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his comments at his next media briefing he would usually downplay it and nearly contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a risky game.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly originated from a insider associated with the organization. It said that Rodgers was harming the team 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 angered. They then saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his board members did not back his plans to bring success.

This disclosure was poisonous, naturally, and it was meant to hurt him, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a examination then we heard nothing further about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was losing the support of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes