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Merely fifteen minutes following Celtic issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' surprising resignation via a perfunctory short statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent fury.

In 551-words, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he persuaded to come to the club when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. Plus the figure he once more relied on after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the jaw-dropping comeback of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the club, and after much of his recent life was given over to an continuous circuit of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and maybe for a time. Considering things he has said lately, O'Neill has been keen to get another job. He will see this role as the ultimate chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.

Will he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly make a call to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will serve as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the harsh way Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a labeling of him as untrustful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-interest at the cost of others," wrote he.

For somebody who prizes decorum and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, this was another example of how abnormal situations have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's most powerful presence, moves in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the power to make all the major calls he pleases without having the obligation of justifying them in any public forum.

He does not attend team annual meetings, sending his offspring, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, does interviews about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's slow to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to support the organization with confidential messages to news outlets, but nothing is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And that's just what he went against when going full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

The official line from the team is that he stepped down, but reading Desmond's invective, line by line, one must question why did he allow it to get such a critical point?

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

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

He claims his words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the management and the board. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

Such an remarkable allegation, indeed. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we discuss.

His Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to better times, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Brendan deferred to him and, really, to no one other.

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

This marked the most controversial hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as other supporters would have put it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

The shareholder had his support. Over time, the manager turned on the persuasion, achieved the wins and the trophies, and an fragile peace with the supporters became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his goals came in contact with the club's business model, however.

It happened in his initial tenure and it happened again, with bells on, recently. He publicly commented about the slow way the team went about their transfer business, the interminable waiting for targets to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he spoke about the necessity for what he termed "flexibility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent unprecedented sums of funds in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly another player and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have cut it to date, with one since having left - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, often, he expressed this in openly.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his next news conference he would typically minimize it and nearly reverse what he said.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a risky game.

A few months back there was a story in a newspaper that purportedly came from a insider close to the club. It said that Rodgers was harming Celtic with his public outbursts and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

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

The fans were enraged. They now viewed him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his shield because his directors wouldn't back his plans to achieve triumph.

The leak was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to harm him, which it accomplished. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes