🔗 Share this article

Merely a quarter of an hour after the club issued the announcement of their manager's surprising departure via a perfunctory short communication, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent anger.

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

The man he convinced to join the club when Rangers were gaining ground in that period and needed putting back in a box. And the man he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the severity of Desmond's critique, the jaw-dropping return of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous circuit of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his old hits at the team, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a while. Based on comments he has expressed lately, he has been keen to secure another job. He'll view this one as the perfect chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such glory and praise.

Will he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic could possibly reach out to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the biggest shocking development was the harsh way the shareholder described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a branding of him as untrustful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For a person who prizes decorum and sets high importance in business being conducted with discretion, if not outright secrecy, here was a further illustration of how unusual situations have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's most powerful figure, moves in the margins. The remote leader, the one with the authority to take all the major decisions he pleases without having the obligation of justifying them in any public forum.

He does not attend team AGMs, sending his offspring, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the organization with confidential missives to media organisations, but no statement is heard in the open.

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

The official line from the team is that he resigned, but reading his criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why did he permit it to get such a critical point?

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

Desmond has charged him of spinning information in public that were inconsistent with reality.

He claims Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the club and encouraged hostility towards members of the executive team and the board. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and unacceptable."

What an extraordinary charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we speak.

His Aspirations Clashed with the Club's Model Again

Looking back to happier days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to him and, truly, to nobody else.

It was the figure who took the heat when his returned happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most divisive hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other supporters would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the difficulty for another club.

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

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a moment when his goals clashed with the club's business model, though.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with added intensity, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the slow process Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the need for what he called "agility" in the market. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the organization splurged record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well so far, with one since having departed - the manager pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity inside the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his next media briefing he would usually minimize it and almost reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? Not at all, 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 originated from a source close to the club. It claimed that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

He desired not to be there and he was arranging his way out, this was the tone of the story.

The fans were enraged. They then saw him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his directors did not back his plans to bring triumph.

The leak was poisonous, of course, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it did. He demanded for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was clear the manager was shedding the support of the individuals in charge.

The regular {gripes