🔗 Share this article

Just fifteen minutes after Celtic issued the news of Brendan Rodgers' surprising departure via a brief five-paragraph statement, the howitzer arrived, from Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in apparent anger.

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

This individual he persuaded to come to the team when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and required being back in a box. Plus the figure he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of his critique, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a while. Based on comments he has expressed lately, O'Neill has been eager to secure a new position. He'll view this role as the perfect opportunity, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Will he give it up easily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club could possibly make a call to sound out Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a balm for the moment.

All-out Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's return - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the most significant shocking development was the brutal manner the shareholder described the former manager.

This constituted a forceful attempt at defamation, a branding of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the expense of others," stated Desmond.

For a person who values decorum and places great store in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, this was a further illustration of how abnormal situations have grown at the club.

Desmond, the club's most powerful presence, operates in the background. The remote leader, the one with the power to take all the major decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of justifying them in any public forum.

He does not attend club annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, his son, instead. He rarely, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the organization with confidential missives to news outlets, but no statement is made in the open.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And it's exactly what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing his invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he allow it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why was the coach not removed?

Desmond has accused him of distorting things in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says his words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the club and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the management and the board. A portion of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

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

'Rodgers' Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to happier times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Brendan respected Dermot and, truly, to no one other.

It was the figure who drew the criticism when Rodgers' comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the returning hero for a few or, as some other supporters would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Gradually, the manager turned on the charm, achieved the wins and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the fans turned into a love-in again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a point when his goals clashed with the club's operational approach, however.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened again, with bells on, over the last year. He publicly commented about the slow process Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the endless waiting for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he called "agility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the club spent record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the costly another player and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have performed well so far, with Idah since having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in public.

He planted a bomb about a internal disunity within the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, all are united, he'd say. It appeared like he was playing a risky strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that purportedly came from a source close to the club. It claimed that the manager was harming Celtic with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was orchestrating his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be present and he was engineering his way out, that was the tone of the article.

The fans were angered. They then viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his directors wouldn't support his vision to bring success.

The leak was poisonous, of course, and it was intended to harm him, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry 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 clear Rodgers was losing the support of the people in charge.

The regular {gripes