The quick goodbye, the long recrimination

Brendan Rodgers leaving Celtic is the cause of disillusionment on an unprecedented scale for a support left to ponder the value of having an un-swerving trust in human nature.

The former manager had always positioned himself as a Celtic supporter from birth in Northern Ireland, someone who had a congenital affection for the club.

Now the disillusionment among the Celtic fans has been caused by the fact that a supporter has left the team in the lurch with a title not yet won and a season which has been belatedly turned chaotic.

The holy grail for the Celtic fans has long been the thought of an historic ten titles in a row and they were of the belief that Rodgers was the man who could take them to an historical peak.

The promise of Ten in a Row was made real for them when Rodgers held up ten fingers at the end of one game, signifying that he knew what they wanted most of all and what he intended to do about it.

Rodgers’ contract extension was even timed to expire at the end of the season which would, theoretically, have earned him a place among Celtic’s managerial immortals on a par with Jock Stein.

But now he has left the club with eight in a row not yet completed and left open the arithmetical possibility that the turmoil he has created could yet allow Rangers to overcome their historic rivals and win a championship at the end of Steven Gerrard’s first season in charge at Ibrox.

The effect of Rodgers’ sudden move to Leicester City has yet to be quantified in terms of how it affects the performance of the players on the park, but we won’t have long to find out how they deal with a decision that is of Richter scale proportions.

The league game with Hearts at Tynecastle tomorrow night would have been demanding enough even with Rodgers at the helm, but the aftermath of his waygoing will add spice to the occasion.

Rodgers had won seven domestic trophies in a row with Celtic, equalling a record set by Walter Smith during his halcyon days at Rangers.

The aura of invincibility which surrounded Celtic had been created when Rodgers went through his first season in control without losing a single match, and was strengthened when he completed the first ever Double Treble a year later.

Now a spell has been broken and the supporters’ anger will be as a result of Rodgers having broken it on a voluntary basis.

But Rodgers, who came within a hairsbreadth of winning the English Premier League title with Liverpool, has always been about personal ambition.

And there was never any doubt that Scottish football would only satisfy him to a certain extent, but never adequately fulfil his every wish for himself.

What will annoy the Celtic fans is that he has left their club for a team who currently sit in twelfth place in England’s top flight, having gone through three managers in the last three years, and are far removed from the side who achieved the miracle of winning the league title under Claudio Ranieri.

But he has and the notion that men are prepared to devote their life to Celtic to the exclusion of all other concerns is now exposed as a fanciful piece of nonsense.

What Rodgers leaves behind is a tainted legacy for the fans to come to terms with.

He gave them greatness and he promised them even more, and then he left them dismayed and despondent.

And now?

The assumption is that Neil Lennon will take over on an interim basis and that would at least provide consolation of sorts for those who have been left bewildered.

When Lennon first became Celtic manager he promised to “Bring back the thunder” to the club and was as good as his word, doing everything from being a title winner to beating Barcelona in the Champions League.

He also made the last sixteen of that competition, something Rodgers could not do during his period of domestic domination.

Maybe the feeling that he was hitting his head off a glass ceiling on a European basis contributed to Rodgers’ feeling that he was approaching the end of his shelf life at Celtic Park.

It doesn’t matter now because he’s gone and the supporters would invest their faith and trust in Lennon, even if it would have to be remembered that he once left Celtic Park on a voluntary basis as well.

Lennon will re-invigorate a shattered support base and take exceptional delight in starting the job with league and cup games against Hearts and Hibs.

Tynecastle is the ground where Neil was struck by a coin during an Edinburgh derby earlier this season.

Easter Road is the ground where he galvanised a club and got on the wrong end of Hibs’ managerial hierarchy at the same time.

He did not jump and he was not pushed, but somehow he became Hibs’ former manager in spite of a statement from the club which said he had done nothing wrong.

The combative Neil was born to throw himself headlong into those two games at those two grounds.

If he completes the winning of eight titles in a row and a Treble Treble his place in Celtic’s history, and the affections of the fans, will be cemented

• Hugh Keevins