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Just a quarter of an hour following the club released the news of Brendan Rodgers' surprising resignation via a perfunctory short communication, the howitzer arrived, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

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

The man he convinced to join the team when Rangers were gaining ground in 2016 and required being back in a box. Plus the man he again turned to after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

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

Two decades after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an continuous series of appearances and the playing of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Based on things he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been keen to secure another job. He'll view this role as the ultimate chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such success and adulation.

Would he give it up easily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well make a call to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' development was the brutal manner the shareholder described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a branding of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote he.

For somebody who values decorum and sets high importance in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not outright privacy, here was another illustration of how unusual situations have become at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's dominant figure, operates in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the power to take all the important decisions he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not attend team annual meetings, dispatching his son, Ross, instead. He seldom, if ever, does interviews about the team unless they're glowing in nature. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to support the club with private missives to news outlets, but no statement is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And that's just what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the club is that he stepped down, but reviewing his invective, carefully, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get such a critical point?

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

Desmond has accused him of distorting information in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the club and encouraged animosity towards members of the executive team and the board. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

Such an remarkable allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

His Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to happier days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded Desmond at every turn, thanked him every chance. Rodgers respected him and, truly, to nobody else.

This was Desmond who drew the heat when Rodgers' comeback occurred, after the previous manager.

It was the most divisive appointment, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

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

There was always - consistently - going to be a point when his ambition clashed with the club's operational approach, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired once more, with added intensity, over the last year. He publicly commented about the sluggish way the team conducted their transfer business, the endless waiting for targets to be landed, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Time and again he spoke about the need for what he called "agility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Even when the club splurged unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the costly another player and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with Idah since having departed - the manager pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the team and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he stated.

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

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source associated with the organization. It said that the manager was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He desired not to be there and he was arranging his exit, this was the tone of the story.

The fans were angered. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his board members wouldn't support his vision to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, naturally, and it was intended to harm Rodgers, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. If there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was shedding the support of the people in charge.

The regular {gripes