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Just a quarter of an hour after Celtic issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a perfunctory short communication, the howitzer arrived, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

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

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

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

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

For now - and maybe for a while. Based on things he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been eager to get a new position. He will see this one as the perfect chance, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he enjoyed such success and adulation.

Will he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic could possibly make a call to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the brutal manner Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

This constituted a forceful endeavor at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For somebody who prizes propriety and sets high importance in business being done with discretion, if not outright secrecy, this was another example of how abnormal situations have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to make all the important calls he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He never participate in club annual meetings, sending his offspring, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, gives media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the club with private messages to media organisations, but nothing is made in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And that's just what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

The official line from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reading his criticism, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to reach such a critical point?

If Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why had been the coach not dismissed?

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

He claims his words "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the management and the board. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

Such an remarkable charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

His Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

To return to happier times, they were close, the two men. Rodgers lauded Desmond at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, truly, to no one other.

It was the figure who took the criticism when Rodgers' comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as other Celtic fans would have put it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had his support. Gradually, the manager turned on the charm, achieved the wins and the honors, and an fragile peace with the supporters became a affectionate relationship again.

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

This occurred in his first incarnation and it happened again, with bells on, over the last year. He spoke openly about the slow process Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the endless delay for prospects to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the market. The fans agreed with him.

Even when the organization splurged unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have performed well so far, with Idah since having departed - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He planted a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then walked away. Upon questioning about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, all are united, he'd say. It looked like he was playing a dangerous strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that allegedly came from a source associated with the organization. It said that Rodgers was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

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

The fans were enraged. They then saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his directors wouldn't back his vision to bring triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to hurt him, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

By then it was clear the manager was losing the support of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes