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Merely a quarter of an hour following Celtic issued the news of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in apparent anger.

Through 551-words, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he persuaded to join the team when Rangers were gaining ground in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. And the figure he again turned to after the previous manager departed to Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of his takedown, the jaw-dropping return of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the club, and after much of his latter years was given over to an continuous circuit of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a while. Based on things he has said lately, he has been keen to get a new position. He will see this role as the ultimate opportunity, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.

Would he relinquish it easily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club might well make a call to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the biggest shocking development was the brutal manner Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

This constituted a forceful attempt at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes decorum and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, here was another example of how unusual things have grown at the club.

The major figure, the organization's most powerful figure, moves in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to take all the major decisions he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

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

He has been known on an rare moment to defend the club with confidential missives to media organisations, but no statement is made in the open.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And it's exactly what he went against when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

The official line from the team is that he resigned, but reviewing his invective, line by line, you have to wonder why he allow it to get this far down the line?

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

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

He claims Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic environment around the club and encouraged animosity towards members of the executive team and the board. A portion of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

What an remarkable charge, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Aspirations Conflicted with Celtic's Model Again

Looking back to better days, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, truly, to no one other.

It was Desmond who took the heat when his comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive appointment, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have put it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

The shareholder had Rodgers' back. Over time, Rodgers turned on the charm, achieved the wins and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the fans became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a point when Rodgers' ambition clashed with Celtic's operational approach, though.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with added intensity, over the last year. He spoke openly about the slow way the team conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for targets to be landed, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he called "flexibility" in the transfer window. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the organization spent unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have performed well to date, with Idah since having left - the manager demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity inside the club and then walked away. When asked about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would typically minimize it and almost contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a risky game.

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source close to the organization. It claimed that the manager was damaging the team with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.

He desired not to be present and he was engineering his exit, this was the implication of the article.

The fans were angered. They then saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his board members did not support his plans to bring triumph.

The leak was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

By then it was clear the manager was losing the backing of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes