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Merely fifteen minutes following the club issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' surprising departure via a perfunctory short communication, the howitzer landed, from Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious fury.

In 551-words, key investor Dermot Desmond savaged his old chum.

The man he convinced to come to the team when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and required being in their place. Plus the figure he once more relied on after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's critique, the jaw-dropping return of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after a large part of his recent life was dedicated to an continuous series of appearances and the playing of all his past successes at Celtic, O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and maybe for a time. Based on comments he has said lately, O'Neill has been eager to get a new position. He will see this one as the ultimate chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such success and praise.

Will he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic could possibly reach out to sound out Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the most significant 'wow!' development was the brutal manner the shareholder described Rodgers.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a branding of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For somebody who prizes decorum and places great store in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, here was another illustration of how unusual situations have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to take all the major decisions he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any public forum.

He does not participate in team annual meetings, sending his son, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the organization with confidential messages to news outlets, but nothing is heard in public.

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

The directive from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reading his criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why did he allow it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming the manager is guilty of all of the accusations that the shareholder is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why had been the manager not dismissed?

Desmond has charged him of distorting information in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the team and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the board. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary allegation, that is. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Ambition Conflicted with the Club's Model Once More'

To return to happier days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Brendan deferred to him and, truly, to nobody else.

It was Desmond who took the heat when his returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had his back. Gradually, the manager employed the persuasion, achieved the wins and the trophies, and an fragile peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his ambition came in contact with the club's business model, though.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with added intensity, over the last year. Rodgers publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the endless 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 stated about the need for what he called "agility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the organization splurged unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly Adam Idah and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it to date, with Idah since having departed - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, often, he did it in public.

He planted a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the club and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his next 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 looked like Rodgers was playing a dangerous strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a source close to the organization. It said that Rodgers was damaging the team 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 exit, that was the implication of the article.

Supporters were enraged. They now saw him as akin to a martyr who might be removed on his honor because his directors wouldn't support his plans to bring success.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to harm him, which it did. He called for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

At that point it was plain Rodgers was losing the support of the individuals above him.

The regular {gripes