How Irretrievable Collapse Led to a Savage Separation for Brendan Rodgers & Celtic

Merely fifteen minutes after the club released the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the bombshell landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in apparent fury.

In 551-words, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he persuaded to come to the team when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and required being in their place. Plus 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 jaw-dropping return of the former boss was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his departure from the club, and after much of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a time. Based on things he has said recently, he has been keen to get another job. He will view this role as the perfect opportunity, a present from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and praise.

Would he relinquish it easily? It seems unlikely. The club might well make a call to sound out Postecoglou, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Effort at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the brutal manner the shareholder described Rodgers.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," stated he.

For a person who prizes propriety and sets high importance in business being conducted with discretion, if not complete privacy, here was another illustration of how abnormal things have become at the club.

The major figure, the club's dominant presence, moves in the margins. The remote leader, the one with the power to make all the major decisions he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never participate in team annual meetings, sending his son, Ross, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're glowing in nature. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

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

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And it's exactly what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reading his criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why he allow it to get such a critical point?

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

Desmond has charged him of spinning things in public that were inconsistent with reality.

He claims his statements "played a part to a toxic environment around the club and fuelled hostility towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

Such an extraordinary charge, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we speak.

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

Looking back to better days, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers lauded the shareholder at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to him and, truly, to nobody else.

It was the figure who drew the criticism when his comeback happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most controversial 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 left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

Desmond had his back. Over time, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, achieved the wins and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the supporters became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when his ambition clashed with Celtic's business model, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with bells on, over the last year. He spoke openly about the slow way the team conducted their transfer business, the interminable waiting for prospects to be secured, then not landed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.

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

Despite the organization splurged unprecedented sums of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the costly another player and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have performed well so far, with Idah already having left - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, often, he did it in openly.

He planted a bomb about a internal disunity inside the club and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his next news conference he would usually downplay it and nearly contradict what he stated.

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

Earlier this year there was a story in a newspaper that allegedly came from a insider associated with the organization. It claimed that Rodgers was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

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

The fans were enraged. They then saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his board members did not support his vision to achieve success.

The leak was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it did. He demanded for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we heard no more about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was shedding the support of the people above him.

The regular {gripes