The Way Irretrievable Collapse Resulted in a Brutal Parting for Brendan Rodgers & Celtic

Just a quarter of an hour after the club issued the news of Brendan Rodgers' surprising departure via a perfunctory short communication, the bombshell landed, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

In an extensive statement, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

This individual he convinced to come to the club when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and required being back in a box. And the figure he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

Such was the severity of Desmond's critique, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an continuous circuit of appearances and the playing of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a time. Considering comments he has said lately, he has been keen to get a new position. He'll view this one as the perfect opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Would he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be parked because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the brutal manner the shareholder described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, misleading and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote he.

For a person who values propriety and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not complete privacy, this was another illustration of how unusual situations have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's most powerful presence, operates in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to make all the important decisions he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He never attend club AGMs, sending his son, his son, in his place. He rarely, if ever, gives media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the organization with private missives to news outlets, but no statement is made in the open.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to remain. And that's just what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, one must question why he allow it to reach such a critical point?

If the manager is guilty of all of the accusations that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why was the manager not dismissed?

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

He claims his words "have contributed to a toxic environment around the team and fuelled animosity towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable."

What an extraordinary allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be mobilising as we speak.

'Rodgers' Ambition Clashed with the Club's Model Once More'

To return to happier days, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised the shareholder at every turn, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Rodgers respected him and, really, to nobody else.

This was the figure who took the criticism when Rodgers' returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as other supporters would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had his support. Over time, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, delivered the wins and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the supporters became a affectionate relationship again.

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

This occurred in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with added intensity, recently. He publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for prospects to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

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

Even when the organization spent unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the £9m another player and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have performed well so far, with Idah already having left - the manager pushed for increased resources and, often, he did it in openly.

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

Internal issues? No, no, all are united, he'd say. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a risky strategy.

A few months back there was a story in a publication that allegedly originated from a insider associated with the club. It said that the manager was damaging the team with his public outbursts and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

He desired not to be there and he was engineering his way out, that was the tone of the article.

Supporters were angered. They then saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his directors did not back his plans to bring success.

The leak was damaging, of course, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. If there was a examination then we learned nothing further about it.

At that point it was clear the manager was shedding the backing of the individuals above him.

The regular {gripes