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Merely a quarter of an hour following Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's surprising resignation via a brief five-paragraph statement, the howitzer landed, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

Through 551-words, key investor Desmond savaged his former ally.

This individual he persuaded to join the team when their rivals were gaining ground in 2016 and required being back in a box. And the figure he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the severity of his takedown, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was practically an after-thought.

Two decades after his exit from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at the team, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Considering things he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been eager to get a new position. He'll view this one as the perfect opportunity, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such glory and praise.

Will he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's reappearance - however strange as it may be - can be parked because the most significant shocking development was the brutal manner the shareholder wrote of Rodgers.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of him as deceitful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the cost of others," stated he.

For a person who prizes propriety and sets high importance in business being done with discretion, if not outright secrecy, here was another example of how unusual things have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, operates in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to take all the important calls he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He never attend team annual meetings, sending his offspring, Ross, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, 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 no statement is made in the open.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he went against when going all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why did he permit it to reach this far down the line?

Assuming the manager is guilty of all of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the coach not removed?

He has accused him of distorting things in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says Rodgers' statements "played a part to a toxic environment around the club and encouraged hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable."

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

'Rodgers' Aspirations Conflicted with Celtic's Model Once More'

Looking back to happier times, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Rodgers respected Dermot and, really, to no one other.

It was the figure who drew the criticism when his comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most divisive hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the shameless one, who departed in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had Rodgers' support. Over time, the manager turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the fans turned into a love-in again.

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

This occurred in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the slow way the team went about their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the necessity for what he termed "flexibility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Even when the organization spent record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well so far, with one already having left - the manager demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It looked like he was engaging in a risky game.

A few months back there was a story in a publication that purportedly originated from a insider close to the organization. It said that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.

He desired not to be there and he was engineering his way out, this was the implication of the article.

The fans were enraged. They now viewed him as akin to a martyr who might be removed on his shield because his directors did not back his vision to bring success.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we learned nothing further about it.

At that point it was plain the manager was losing the backing of the people above him.

The regular {gripes