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Just a quarter of an hour after Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's shock departure via a brief five-paragraph communication, the howitzer landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in obvious fury.

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

This individual he persuaded to join the team when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and needed putting in their place. And the figure he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the severity of his critique, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after much of his latter years was dedicated 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 perhaps for a time. Based on things he has said lately, he has been eager to get a new position. He'll view this one as the perfect chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and praise.

Would he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. The club might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the time being.

'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 the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the expense of others," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes decorum and places great store in business being done with discretion, if not complete secrecy, here was a further illustration of how abnormal situations have become at the club.

Desmond, the organization's dominant presence, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to take all the important calls he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not attend club annual meetings, sending his offspring, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the club with private missives to news outlets, but nothing is made in the open.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he went against when going full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get such a critical point?

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

He has accused him of distorting things in open forums that did not tally with reality.

He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a hostile atmosphere around the team and encouraged animosity towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

Such an extraordinary charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we speak.

His Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Model Again

Looking back to better times, they were tight, the two men. The manager lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan respected him and, really, to nobody else.

It was the figure who took the heat when Rodgers' returned happened, after the previous manager.

It was the most controversial hiring, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

The shareholder had Rodgers' support. Over time, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, delivered 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 business model, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with bells on, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish way the team conducted their transfer business, the interminable waiting for prospects to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the need for what he called "flexibility" in the market. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the organization spent record amounts of money in a calendar year on the £11m one signing, the £9m another player and the significant Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well to date, with one already having left - Rodgers demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity inside the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would typically minimize it and nearly contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a dangerous strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a insider close to the club. It said that Rodgers was damaging the team with his public outbursts and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

He didn't want to be present and he was arranging his way out, this was the tone of the article.

Supporters were enraged. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his board members did not back his plans to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, naturally, and it was meant to harm him, which it did. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

At that point it was plain the manager was losing the support of the people above him.

The regular {gripes