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Merely a quarter of an hour after Celtic issued the news of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph statement, the howitzer landed, from Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious anger.

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

The man he persuaded to come to the team when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and required being in their place. Plus the figure he again turned to after the previous manager departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's critique, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

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 playing of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Based on comments he has expressed recently, he has been keen to get a new position. He will see this role as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such glory and adulation.

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

All-out Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's return - however strange as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the brutal manner Desmond wrote of the former manager.

It was a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the cost of others," wrote he.

For somebody who values propriety and places great store in dealings being done with discretion, if not complete secrecy, here was a further example of how abnormal things have become at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the power to take all the major calls he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He never participate in team AGMs, dispatching his son, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the club with confidential messages to news outlets, but no statement is heard in public.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And it's just what he went against when launching full thermonuclear on the manager on that day.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing Desmond's invective, carefully, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is alleging he's responsible for, then it's fair to ask why was the manager not dismissed?

He has charged him of spinning information in open forums that did not tally with the facts.

He says Rodgers' words "played a part to a toxic environment around the team and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and improper."

What an remarkable allegation, that is. Lawyers might be preparing as we speak.

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

To return to better times, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan respected him and, truly, to nobody else.

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

This marked the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Gradually, Rodgers employed the persuasion, delivered the wins and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the supporters turned into a love-in once more.

There was always - always - going to be a moment when Rodgers' ambition clashed with Celtic's business model, though.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with added intensity, over the last year. He publicly commented about the slow way the team went about their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the need for what he called "flexibility" in the transfer window. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the organization spent unprecedented sums of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have performed well so far, with Idah already having left - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity inside the team and then walked away. Upon questioning about his comments at his next news conference he would typically downplay it and nearly contradict what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a risky game.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that allegedly came from a source close to the club. It said that the manager was damaging the team with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

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

Supporters were enraged. They now saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his board members did not support his plans to bring success.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to harm Rodgers, which it did. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

By then it was plain Rodgers was losing the backing of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes