🔗 Share this article

Just fifteen minutes following Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph communication, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

Through an extensive statement, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

The man he convinced to come to the club when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. And the figure he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of Desmond's critique, the jaw-dropping return of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the club, and after much of his latter years was given over to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a while. Based on things he has said lately, he has been eager to get another job. He'll see this role as the ultimate chance, a present from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and praise.

Will he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the biggest 'wow!' development was the harsh manner Desmond described the former manager.

It was a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a labeling of him as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-preservation at the cost of others," stated Desmond.

For somebody who values propriety and places great store in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, here was another example of how abnormal things have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the background. The remote leader, the one with the authority to take all the important calls he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not participate in team AGMs, dispatching his son, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

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

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

The official line from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing his criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why he allow it to get this far down the line?

If Rodgers is culpable of every one of the accusations that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to ask why was the manager not dismissed?

He has charged him of spinning things in public that did not tally with reality.

He claims Rodgers' statements "played a part to a hostile environment around the club and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the management and the directors. A portion of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we discuss.

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

To return to better days, they were tight, the two men. The manager praised Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Brendan respected Dermot and, really, to no one other.

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

This marked the most divisive appointment, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who departed in the lurch for another club.

Desmond had his support. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the honors, and an fragile peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship again.

There was always - consistently - going to be a point when Rodgers' goals clashed with the club's operational approach, however.

It happened in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish way Celtic went about their transfer business, the interminable waiting for prospects to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he called "agility" in the transfer window. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the organization spent record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the £11m one signing, the costly another player and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with one already having left - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He planted a bomb about a internal disunity inside the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his subsequent news conference he would usually minimize it and almost contradict what he said.

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

A few months back there was a story in a newspaper that allegedly came from a insider associated with the club. It claimed that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He desired not to be present and he was engineering his exit, this was the tone of the article.

The fans were angered. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his directors wouldn't back his plans to bring triumph.

The leak was poisonous, naturally, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

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

The frequent {gripes