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Merely fifteen minutes following Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's surprising resignation via a brief short communication, the bombshell landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

Through an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond savaged his old chum.

The man he convinced to come to the team when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and required being in their place. And the man he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the recent offseason.

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

Two decades after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his recent life was given over to an unending series of appearances and the playing of all his past successes at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering things he has said recently, O'Neill has been keen to secure a new position. He will view this one as the ultimate chance, a present from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and praise.

Would he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly make a call to sound out Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the biggest 'wow!' development was the brutal way the shareholder described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-preservation at the cost of others," stated Desmond.

For somebody who prizes decorum and places great store in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, this was another illustration of how unusual things have become at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's dominant figure, operates in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the power to take all the major calls he pleases without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

He never attend club annual meetings, sending his offspring, his son, instead. He rarely, if ever, does 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 support the club with private missives to news outlets, but nothing is heard in public.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to remain. And it's exactly what he contradicted when going all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

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

If the manager is guilty of all of the accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the coach not dismissed?

Desmond has accused him of spinning things in public that did not tally with reality.

He claims his words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the team and encouraged animosity towards members of the management and the board. A portion of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and improper."

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

His Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Model Again

To return to better times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded the shareholder at every turn, thanked him every chance. Rodgers respected Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

This was Desmond who took the criticism when Rodgers' returned occurred, after the previous manager.

This marked the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the returning hero for a few or, as some other supporters would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Gradually, the manager turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the supporters became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when Rodgers' ambition came in contact with the club's business model, though.

It happened in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish process Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the endless waiting for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well so far, with Idah already having left - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, often, he did it in public.

He planted a bomb about a lack of cohesion within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would usually downplay it and almost contradict what he stated.

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

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly originated from a insider close to the organization. It claimed that the manager was damaging Celtic with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

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

The fans were enraged. They then saw him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his shield because his board members wouldn't back his plans to bring triumph.

The leak was poisonous, naturally, and it was intended to harm Rodgers, which it did. He demanded for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a examination then we heard nothing further about it.

At that point it was plain Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes