🔗 Share this article

Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of their manager's shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the bombshell arrived, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

In 551-words, major shareholder Desmond savaged his former ally.

This individual he convinced to join the club when Rangers were gaining ground in that period and needed putting back in a box. Plus the figure he once more relied on after the previous manager departed to Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's critique, the jaw-dropping return of the former boss was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his departure from the organization, and after much of his latter years was given over to an unending series of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a time. Considering things he has said recently, O'Neill has been keen to get a new position. He will view this role as the ultimate chance, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Would he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. The club might well reach out to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant shocking development was the brutal manner Desmond described the former manager.

It was a forceful attempt at defamation, a labeling of him as untrustful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the cost of others," wrote Desmond.

For a person who values decorum and places great store in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not outright privacy, this was another example of how abnormal things have become at the club.

Desmond, the organization's most powerful presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to make all the important calls he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He never attend team AGMs, dispatching his son, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the organization with confidential missives to news outlets, but nothing is made in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And that's just what he contradicted when going full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reading Desmond's invective, carefully, one must question why he allow it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of all of the accusations that the shareholder is alleging he's guilty of, then it's fair to ask why was the manager not dismissed?

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

He says his words "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the team and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the executive team and the board. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and unacceptable."

What an remarkable charge, indeed. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

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

To return to happier days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager lauded the shareholder at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers respected him and, really, to nobody else.

It was Desmond who took the criticism when his comeback occurred, after the previous manager.

It was the most controversial hiring, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as other supporters would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Gradually, the manager turned on the persuasion, achieved the wins and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

There was always - consistently - going to be a point when his ambition came in contact with the club's operational approach, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with added intensity, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish process the team went about their transfer business, the endless delay for targets to be landed, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was concerned.

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

Even when the club splurged record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have performed well to date, with one since having departed - the manager pushed for increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He planted a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next news conference he would usually downplay it and nearly contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, all are united, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a dangerous game.

A few months back there was a story in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source close to the club. It claimed that the manager was damaging the team with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

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

The fans were enraged. They then viewed him as akin to a martyr who might be removed on his shield because his directors did not support his plans to bring triumph.

The leak was damaging, of course, and it was intended to harm him, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

At that point it was plain Rodgers was losing the backing of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes