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Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of Brendan Rodgers' surprising departure via a perfunctory short communication, the bombshell arrived, from the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent anger.

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

The man he persuaded to join the team when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and needed putting in their place. And the figure he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of Desmond's critique, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.

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

Currently - and perhaps for a while. Based on things he has said recently, O'Neill has been keen to secure another job. He'll see this role as the perfect chance, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such success and praise.

Would he give it up easily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well make a call to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - however strange as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest shocking development was the brutal manner Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

This constituted a forceful endeavor at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish 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, here was a further illustration of how unusual situations have become at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's dominant figure, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to take all the major decisions he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He never participate in club annual meetings, dispatching his son, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

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

This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And it's exactly what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, carefully, one must question why did he allow it to get this far down the line?

Assuming the manager is culpable of all of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the coach not removed?

He has charged him of distorting things in open forums that did not tally with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' words "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

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

'Rodgers' Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

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

It was the figure who drew the criticism when his comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial appointment, the return of the returning hero for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have put it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had his back. Over time, Rodgers employed the persuasion, achieved the wins and the honors, and an fragile truce with the supporters became a affectionate relationship again.

There was always - consistently - going to be a moment when his ambition clashed with Celtic's operational approach, though.

It happened in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the slow process Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for prospects to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he spoke about the necessity for what he called "agility" in the transfer window. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the club splurged record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the costly another player and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it so far, with Idah already having left - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, often, he did it in public.

He planted a controversy about a lack of cohesion inside the club and then walked away. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would typically minimize it and nearly reverse what he said.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It looked like Rodgers was playing a dangerous game.

Earlier this year there was a story in a publication that allegedly originated from a source close to the organization. It said that Rodgers was damaging the team with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He desired not to be there and he was engineering his way out, that was the implication of the story.

Supporters were angered. They then viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his board members wouldn't support his vision to bring success.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

At that point it was plain the manager was shedding the backing of the people above him.

The regular {gripes