The Way Unrecoverable Breakdown Resulted in a Brutal Parting for Rodgers & Celtic

Just fifteen minutes following the club released the announcement of their manager's surprising resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the howitzer arrived, from the major shareholder, with clear signs in obvious fury.

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

The man he convinced to come to the club when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and needed putting in their place. And the man he once more turned to after the previous manager departed to Tottenham in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of his takedown, the jaw-dropping comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous circuit of appearances and the playing of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

Currently - and perhaps for a while. Considering things he has said lately, he has been keen to secure a new position. He'll view this one as the perfect opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the environment where he experienced such success and praise.

Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well make a call to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the moment.

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the harsh manner Desmond wrote of the former manager.

It was a forceful endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the cost of others," stated he.

For a person who prizes propriety and places great store in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not outright privacy, here was a further example of how abnormal situations have grown at the club.

Desmond, the organization's dominant presence, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to make all the major calls he wants without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

He never participate in team AGMs, sending his son, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an rare moment to support the club with private messages to media organisations, but nothing is heard in the open.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And that's exactly what he went against when launching all-out attack on the manager on that day.

The directive from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reading Desmond's criticism, line by line, one must question why he permit it to get such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of every one of the things that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it's fair to ask why had been the manager not removed?

Desmond has charged him of spinning information in open forums that did not tally with reality.

He claims his words "have contributed to a toxic environment around the team and encouraged hostility towards members of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

Such an remarkable allegation, that is. Lawyers might be mobilising as we speak.

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

To return to happier times, they were tight, the two men. The manager lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him every chance. Rodgers respected Dermot and, really, to no one other.

This was the figure who drew the heat when his comeback happened, after the previous manager.

It was the most controversial hiring, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had his back. Gradually, the manager employed the charm, achieved the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship again.

There was always - always - going to be a moment when his goals clashed with the club's operational approach, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. Rodgers publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic conducted their transfer business, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then missed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the need for what he termed "flexibility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the organization splurged record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the costly another player and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with Idah since having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity inside the team and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his next media briefing he would usually minimize it and nearly contradict what he said.

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

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that allegedly came from a source associated with the club. It claimed that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

He desired not to be there and he was arranging his way out, this was the tone of the story.

Supporters were angered. They then saw him as akin to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his board members did not support his vision to bring success.

The leak was poisonous, of course, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

By then it was plain Rodgers was shedding the support of the people in charge.

The regular {gripes