How Unrecoverable Breakdown Resulted in a Savage Separation for Brendan Rodgers & Celtic

Just fifteen minutes following the club released the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a brief short statement, the howitzer landed, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

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

This individual he convinced to join the club when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and required being back in a box. And the figure he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the recent offseason.

So intense was the ferocity of his takedown, the astonishing return of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Based on things he has said lately, O'Neill has been keen to secure another job. He will see this one as the perfect opportunity, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such success and praise.

Will he relinquish it readily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club could possibly reach out to sound out Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the most significant shocking development was the harsh manner the shareholder wrote of Rodgers.

It was a forceful endeavor at defamation, a labeling of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote he.

For somebody who values propriety and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not complete privacy, this was a further example of how abnormal things have become at the club.

The major figure, the club's most powerful presence, moves in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to make all the major decisions he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He never participate in club annual meetings, sending his offspring, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to support the organization with private missives to news outlets, but nothing is heard in the open.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to remain. And it's exactly what he contradicted when going all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's invective, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to reach 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 had been the manager not removed?

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

He says Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and unacceptable."

What an extraordinary charge, that is. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Strategy Again

To return to happier times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him every chance. Brendan deferred to him and, really, to no one other.

This was the figure who took the heat when Rodgers' returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most divisive appointment, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

The shareholder had Rodgers' back. Over time, the manager turned on the charm, achieved the victories and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the fans became a love-in again.

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

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with bells on, recently. He publicly commented about the slow process Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the endless delay for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the need for what he called "flexibility" in the transfer window. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the club spent unprecedented sums of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well to date, with Idah since having left - the manager pushed for more and more and, often, he expressed this in public.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity inside the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

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

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that allegedly originated from a source associated with the club. It claimed that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He desired not to be present and he was engineering his way out, that was the tone of the story.

Supporters were angered. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his board members did not back his plans to bring triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, of course, and it was meant to harm him, which it did. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a examination then we learned no more about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes