How Unrecoverable Breakdown Led to a Brutal Separation for Brendan Rodgers & Celtic FC

Just a quarter of an hour after Celtic released the news of their manager's shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the howitzer arrived, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

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

The man he persuaded to come to the club when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and needed putting 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 his critique, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the club, and after much of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and maybe for a time. Based on things he has expressed recently, he has been keen to get another job. He will see this one as the perfect chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.

Would he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. The club might well reach out to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Effort at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the most significant shocking development was the brutal way the shareholder described Rodgers.

This constituted a forceful attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the expense of everyone else," stated he.

For a person who prizes propriety and sets high importance in business being done with confidentiality, if not outright privacy, this was another illustration of how abnormal situations have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's most powerful figure, moves in the background. 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 public forum.

He does not attend team annual meetings, sending his offspring, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.

He has been known on an rare moment to support the club with confidential messages to media organisations, but no statement is made in the open.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to remain. And that's exactly what he went against when going full thermonuclear on the manager on that day.

The official line from the club is that he stepped down, but reading Desmond's criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why did he allow it to reach this far down the line?

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

Desmond has accused him of spinning information in public that did not tally with the facts.

He says Rodgers' statements "played a part to a hostile environment around the club and encouraged animosity towards members of the executive team and the board. A portion of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

Such an extraordinary allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be preparing as we speak.

'Rodgers' Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

To return to happier days, they were close, the two men. Rodgers praised the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers respected him and, really, to nobody else.

This was Desmond who drew the heat when his returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial appointment, the return of the returning hero for some supporters or, as other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had Rodgers' support. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the fans became a affectionate relationship again.

There was always - always - going to be a point when Rodgers' goals came in contact with Celtic's operational approach, however.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it happened again, with bells on, over the last year. He publicly commented about the slow process the team conducted their transfer business, the interminable delay for prospects to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

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

Even when the club splurged unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - all of whom have performed well so far, with one already having departed - Rodgers demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity inside the club and then walked away. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next media briefing he would usually minimize it and nearly contradict what he stated.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a dangerous game.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly originated from a source close to the club. It claimed that the manager was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his true aim was orchestrating his exit strategy.

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

The fans were enraged. They now viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his directors did not support his plans to bring triumph.

The leak was poisonous, of course, and it was intended to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be dismissed. If there was a examination then we heard no more about it.

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

The regular {gripes