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Merely a quarter of an hour following Celtic released the news of their manager's surprising resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph communication, the howitzer landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in apparent fury.

Through 551-words, major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he convinced to come to the club when Rangers were gaining ground in that period and needed putting back in a box. And the figure he again turned to after the previous manager departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of his critique, the jaw-dropping comeback of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an unending circuit of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and maybe for a time. Based on comments he has expressed lately, O'Neill has been keen to secure a new position. He'll see this one as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the environment where he experienced such success and praise.

Would he give it up easily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well reach out to sound out Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the brutal way the shareholder described Rodgers.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For a person who values propriety and sets high importance in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, here was a further illustration of how unusual situations have grown at the club.

The major figure, the club's dominant presence, moves in the margins. The remote leader, the one with the power to take all the major decisions he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He never participate in club AGMs, dispatching his offspring, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And still, he's slow to speak out.

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

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 he resigned, but reading Desmond's invective, line by line, one must question why did he allow it to get such a critical point?

If Rodgers is culpable of all of the things that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to ask why had been the manager not dismissed?

He has accused him of distorting things in public that did not tally with reality.

He claims Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic environment around the club and encouraged animosity towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and improper."

Such an remarkable allegation, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we speak.

His Ambition Clashed with the Club's Model Again

To return to better days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers respected him and, truly, to no one other.

This was Desmond who took the heat when his comeback happened, after the previous manager.

It was the most divisive hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who departed in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had his support. Over time, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy truce with the fans became a love-in once more.

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

It happened in his initial tenure and it transpired once more, with added intensity, recently. He publicly commented about the slow way the team went about their player acquisitions, the endless waiting for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

Time and again he stated about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the club spent record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have cut it to date, with Idah already having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in openly.

He planted a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the club and then walked away. Upon questioning about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a insider associated with the club. It said that Rodgers was damaging the team with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.

He didn't want to be present and he was arranging his way out, that was the implication of the article.

The fans were angered. They then viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his board members did not support his vision to achieve success.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to hurt him, which it did. He demanded for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals in charge.

The regular {gripes