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

Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's shock resignation via a brief short statement, the howitzer landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent fury.

Through an extensive statement, key investor Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he convinced to join the team when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and needed putting back in a box. Plus the figure he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

Such was the severity of Desmond's takedown, the jaw-dropping return of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after much of his recent life was dedicated to an continuous series of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Based on comments he has expressed lately, he has been eager to get a new position. He'll view this one as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such success 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 act as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant shocking moment was the harsh manner the shareholder wrote of Rodgers.

It was a forceful endeavor at defamation, a branding of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the cost of others," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who values decorum and places great store in business being conducted with discretion, if not outright secrecy, this was another example of how abnormal situations have become at Celtic.

Desmond, the club's dominant figure, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to make all the major calls he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He does not attend team annual meetings, sending his offspring, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, does interviews about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the organization with private messages to media organisations, but no statement is heard 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 he resigned, but reading his criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why he permit it to reach this far down the line?

If Rodgers is culpable of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it's fair to inquire why had been the manager not dismissed?

Desmond has charged him of distorting information in public that did not tally with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a hostile atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the management and the directors. A portion of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and improper."

What an remarkable charge, that is. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we discuss.

His Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Strategy Again

Looking back to happier times, they were close, the two men. Rodgers lauded the shareholder at every turn, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers respected him and, truly, to nobody else.

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

This marked the most controversial hiring, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the difficulty for Leicester.

The shareholder had his back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy truce with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a point when his ambition came in contact with the club's business model, however.

It happened in his initial tenure and it happened again, with bells on, recently. He publicly commented about the slow process the team conducted their transfer business, the endless waiting for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

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

Even when the club spent unprecedented sums of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with Idah already having departed - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, oftentimes, he did it in openly.

He set a bomb about a internal disunity within the club and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next news conference he would usually minimize it and almost contradict what he stated.

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

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source associated with the club. It claimed that Rodgers was damaging the team with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was orchestrating his exit strategy.

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

Supporters were angered. They then saw him as similar to a martyr who might be removed on his honor because his directors wouldn't support his plans to achieve success.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to hurt him, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. If there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

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

The regular {gripes