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Merely a quarter of an hour after Celtic issued the news of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory short statement, the howitzer landed, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in apparent anger.

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

This individual he convinced to join the team when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and required being back in a box. Plus the figure he once more turned to after the previous manager departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the severity of his takedown, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was practically an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous series of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Based on comments he has said lately, O'Neill has been keen to get a new position. He'll see this one as the perfect chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and praise.

Will he relinquish it readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic could possibly reach out to sound out Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the most significant shocking development was the harsh manner Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a branding of him as untrustful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," stated he.

For somebody who prizes propriety and places great store in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, this was another example of how unusual situations have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's most powerful figure, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to take all the major decisions he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not participate in club AGMs, sending his offspring, Ross, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the club with confidential missives to news outlets, but no statement is made in the open.

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

The official line from the team is that he resigned, but reading his criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why did he allow it to reach such a critical point?

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

He has accused him of spinning things in public that were inconsistent with reality.

He claims his words "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary charge, indeed. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

His Ambition Conflicted with the Club's Model Once More'

To return to happier days, they were close, the two men. Rodgers lauded the shareholder at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to him and, really, to no one other.

It was Desmond who took the heat when his returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have put it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

The shareholder had Rodgers' support. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the charm, achieved the victories and the honors, and an fragile truce with the fans became a affectionate relationship once more.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a moment when his ambition clashed with Celtic's operational approach, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with added intensity, recently. He publicly commented about the slow way Celtic conducted their transfer business, the interminable waiting for targets to be secured, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

Time and again he stated about the need for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the club spent record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the £9m another player and the £6m Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it to date, with one already having left - the manager demanded more and more and, often, he did it in openly.

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

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a dangerous strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that purportedly came from a insider associated with the organization. It said that the manager was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his exit, that was the implication of the article.

The fans were enraged. They now viewed him as akin to a martyr who might be removed on his shield because his board members wouldn't back his vision to achieve triumph.

The leak was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to harm him, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry 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 Rodgers was shedding the backing of the people above him.

The regular {gripes