🔗 Share this article

Merely a quarter of an hour following the club released the news of Brendan Rodgers' surprising resignation via a brief five-paragraph statement, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

Through an extensive statement, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

This individual he convinced to come to the club when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and needed putting back in a box. And the man he again turned to after the previous manager departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the severity of his critique, the jaw-dropping return of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after much of his latter years was dedicated to an unending circuit of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a time. Considering things he has said recently, he has been keen to get a new position. He'll view this role as the perfect chance, a gift from the Celtic Gods, 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 could possibly make a call to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a balm for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

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

This constituted a forceful endeavor at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a disseminator of misinformation; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the cost of others," stated he.

For somebody who prizes propriety and sets high importance in dealings being done with discretion, if not outright privacy, here was a further illustration of how unusual things have grown at the club.

Desmond, the club's most powerful presence, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to make all the major decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any open setting.

He does not participate in club AGMs, sending his son, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in nature. And still, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the club with confidential messages to news outlets, but no statement is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And that's exactly what he contradicted when going full thermonuclear on Rodgers on that day.

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

If Rodgers is guilty of all of the things that the shareholder is alleging he's responsible for, then it's fair to inquire why was the manager not removed?

He has accused him of spinning things in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says his words "have contributed to a toxic environment around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the board. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

Such an remarkable allegation, that is. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

His Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to happier days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised Desmond at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

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

This marked the most divisive hiring, the reappearance of the returning hero for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had Rodgers' back. Gradually, the manager turned on the persuasion, achieved the wins and the honors, and an fragile peace with the fans turned into a love-in again.

There was always - always - going to be a point when Rodgers' ambition clashed with Celtic's operational approach, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with added intensity, over the last year. He publicly commented about the slow process Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the need for what he called "flexibility" in the market. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the organization splurged unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the costly another player and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have cut it to date, with Idah already having left - the manager demanded more and more and, often, he did it in openly.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his next news conference he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It looked like he was engaging in a dangerous game.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a source close to the organization. It claimed that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his departure plan.

He desired not to be there and he was arranging his exit, that was the implication of the article.

Supporters were enraged. They now viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his directors did not back his plans to bring success.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we heard no more about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was losing the support of the individuals in charge.

The regular {gripes