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Merely fifteen minutes following Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's surprising departure via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent fury.

In 551-words, key investor Desmond savaged his former ally.

The man he persuaded to join the team when Rangers were gaining ground in 2016 and required being back in a box. Plus the figure he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

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

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after much of his recent life was dedicated to an continuous circuit of appearances and the playing of all his old hits at the team, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a while. Based on things he has expressed recently, he has been eager to get a new position. He'll view this role as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.

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

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' development was the harsh way Desmond described Rodgers.

It was a forceful attempt at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's desire for self-preservation at the expense of others," stated he.

For somebody who values propriety and sets high importance in business being done with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, here was a further illustration of how abnormal situations have become at Celtic.

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

He never participate in team AGMs, dispatching his son, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an rare moment to support the organization with private messages to media organisations, but no statement is heard in the open.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And that's just what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing Desmond's invective, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to get such a critical point?

If the manager is culpable of every one of the accusations that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why had been the manager not dismissed?

He has accused him of spinning information in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He claims his statements "have contributed to a hostile environment around the club and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and improper."

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

His Aspirations Conflicted with Celtic's Model Again

Looking back to better times, they were close, the two men. Rodgers lauded Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.

This was the figure who drew the heat when Rodgers' comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive appointment, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

The shareholder had his back. Gradually, Rodgers employed the charm, delivered the wins and the honors, and an fragile peace with the supporters turned into a love-in once more.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a moment when Rodgers' goals clashed with Celtic's business model, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired once more, with bells on, recently. Rodgers publicly commented about the sluggish way Celtic went about their transfer business, the endless delay for prospects to be secured, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

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

Despite the club splurged unprecedented sums of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly another player and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with one already having departed - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion inside the club and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would typically downplay it and nearly reverse what he stated.

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

A few months back there was a story in a newspaper that purportedly originated from a source associated with the club. It said that Rodgers was harming 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 engineering his way out, that was the implication of the article.

Supporters were angered. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his board members wouldn't support his plans to bring success.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to hurt him, which it accomplished. He called for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

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

The frequent {gripes