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Merely a quarter of an hour following Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's surprising resignation via a brief short statement, the howitzer landed, from the major shareholder, with clear signs in obvious fury.

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

The man he convinced to join the club when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and required being back in a box. And the figure he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the severity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years 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 performance of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and maybe for a while. Based on things he has said lately, O'Neill has been eager to get a new position. He will view this one as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the environment where he experienced such glory and adulation.

Would he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly reach out to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's reappearance - however strange as it is - can be parked because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the harsh manner Desmond wrote of the former manager.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For a person who prizes propriety and sets high importance in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, here was a further illustration of how abnormal things have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's most powerful presence, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the one with the power to make all the important calls he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He does not participate in team annual meetings, sending his son, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to defend the organization with confidential messages to media organisations, but no statement is made in public.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to be. And that's just what he went against when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing Desmond's invective, line by line, one must question why he permit it to get such a critical point?

If the manager is guilty of all of the things that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it's fair to inquire why was the manager not dismissed?

Desmond has accused him of spinning information in public that did not tally with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a hostile environment around the club and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the management and the directors. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and unacceptable."

What an extraordinary charge, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we speak.

His Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to better days, they were tight, the two men. The manager lauded Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Rodgers deferred to Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.

This was Desmond who drew the heat when Rodgers' returned happened, after the previous manager.

It was the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as other supporters would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had Rodgers' support. Over time, the manager turned on the persuasion, delivered the wins and the honors, and an fragile truce with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a point when Rodgers' goals clashed with the club's business model, however.

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with bells on, over the last year. He spoke openly about the sluggish process the team conducted their player acquisitions, the endless waiting for prospects to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the need for what he called "flexibility" in the market. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the club spent unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it to date, with one already having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, often, he did it in openly.

He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then walked away. When asked about his comments at his next media briefing he would typically downplay it and nearly contradict what he stated.

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

A few months back there was a story in a newspaper that purportedly originated from a insider associated with the organization. It claimed that the manager was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

He didn't want to be present and he was engineering his exit, this was the tone of the story.

The fans were angered. They then saw him as akin to a martyr who might be removed on his shield because his board members wouldn't support his plans to achieve success.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to hurt him, which it did. 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.

By then it was plain Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals in charge.

The frequent {gripes