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Just a quarter of an hour after Celtic released the news of Brendan Rodgers' surprising resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the howitzer landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

In 551-words, key investor Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

This individual he persuaded to join the team when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. Plus the man he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the severity of his critique, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was practically an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after much of his latter years 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. Considering things he has expressed recently, he has been eager to get another job. He will see this one as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and adulation.

Will he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well make a call to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the biggest shocking moment was the harsh manner Desmond described the former manager.

This constituted a forceful attempt at character assassination, a branding of him as deceitful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-interest at the expense of others," wrote Desmond.

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

The major figure, the organization's dominant figure, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to take all the important decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He never participate in team AGMs, sending his offspring, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the club with confidential messages to news outlets, but no statement is made in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And it's just what he went against when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, one must question why did he allow it to reach this far down the line?

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

He has accused him of spinning things in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He claims his words "played a part to a hostile environment around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the board. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

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

'Rodgers' Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Again

Looking back to better times, they were close, the two men. The manager praised Desmond at every turn, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to him and, really, to nobody else.

It was Desmond who drew the heat when Rodgers' returned occurred, after the previous manager.

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

The shareholder had Rodgers' support. Gradually, Rodgers employed the persuasion, achieved the wins and the honors, and an fragile truce with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when Rodgers' ambition came in contact with the club's business model, however.

It happened in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with added intensity, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the slow process the team conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was concerned.

Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Even when the club spent unprecedented sums of funds in a calendar year on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the £6m Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it so far, with one already having departed - Rodgers demanded more and more and, often, he did it in public.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity within the club and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his next media briefing he would usually downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

Internal issues? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It looked like he was playing a risky strategy.

Earlier this year there was a story in a publication that purportedly originated from a insider associated with the club. It said that Rodgers was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

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

The fans were enraged. They now saw 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 poisonous, naturally, and it was intended to hurt him, which it accomplished. He called for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. If there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

At that point it was plain Rodgers was losing the support of the people in charge.

The frequent {gripes