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Merely a quarter of an hour following the club issued the news of their manager's surprising resignation via a brief short statement, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in obvious anger.

Through 551-words, major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

This individual he convinced to come to the team when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and required being in their place. And the man he again turned to after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of his critique, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering comments he has expressed recently, he has been eager to secure another job. He'll see this one as the ultimate opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such success and adulation.

Would he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic could possibly reach out to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the most significant shocking moment was the brutal way the shareholder described the former manager.

This constituted a forceful endeavor at defamation, a labeling of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-preservation at the cost of others," wrote Desmond.

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

The major figure, the organization's dominant figure, moves in the background. The remote leader, the one with the power to make all the important calls he wants without having the obligation of justifying them in any public forum.

He never participate in club annual meetings, sending his offspring, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, does interviews about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an rare moment to support the organization with confidential missives to media organisations, but nothing is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to be. And that's exactly what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reading his invective, carefully, one must question why he permit it to reach such a critical point?

If the manager is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is claiming he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why had been the manager not removed?

Desmond has accused him of spinning things in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He claims his words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the team and encouraged hostility towards members of the executive team and the directors. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

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

His Ambition Clashed with the Club's Model Once More'

Looking back to happier days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised Desmond at every turn, thanked him every chance. Rodgers deferred to him and, truly, to no one other.

It was the figure who took the heat when Rodgers' returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the returning hero for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have put it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had his support. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the charm, achieved the wins and the honors, and an fragile peace with the fans became a love-in again.

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

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened again, with added intensity, recently. He publicly commented about the slow way Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for prospects to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the need for what he called "flexibility" in the transfer window. The fans agreed with him.

Even when the club splurged unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have cut it to date, with one already having left - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the club and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next media briefing he would usually downplay it and almost contradict what he stated.

Internal issues? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a risky strategy.

A few months back there was a story in a publication that purportedly originated from a source close to the organization. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

He desired not to be present and he was engineering his exit, that was the tone of the story.

Supporters were enraged. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his directors wouldn't back his vision to achieve success.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to hurt him, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was shedding the support of the individuals above him.

The regular {gripes