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Merely fifteen minutes following the club released the news of their manager's shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the howitzer landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent anger.

In an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

The man he persuaded to come to the club when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. And the figure he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the jaw-dropping return of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Based on comments he has said lately, he has been keen to get a new position. He will see this one as the perfect chance, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such success and praise.

Would he relinquish it readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well reach out to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' development was the harsh way Desmond wrote of the former manager.

It was a forceful attempt at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," stated he.

For somebody who prizes propriety and sets high importance in dealings being done with discretion, if not outright privacy, this was a further example of how unusual things have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's most powerful presence, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to make all the major decisions he wants without having the obligation of justifying them in any public forum.

He does not attend team AGMs, sending his offspring, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the organization with confidential missives to media organisations, but nothing is heard in the open.

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

The directive from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why he allow it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of every one of the accusations that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it's fair to ask why was the coach not dismissed?

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

He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a toxic environment 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 completely unjustified and improper."

What an extraordinary charge, that is. Lawyers might be mobilising as we discuss.

His Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Model Again

Looking back to happier times, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers lauded Desmond at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan respected Dermot and, really, to no one other.

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

This marked the most divisive hiring, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as other supporters would have put it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for Leicester.

The shareholder had Rodgers' support. Gradually, the manager employed the persuasion, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an fragile peace with the supporters became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when Rodgers' ambition clashed with the club's operational approach, though.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened again, with added intensity, recently. He spoke openly about the sluggish way the team went about their player acquisitions, the endless delay for targets to be secured, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

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

Despite the organization spent record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the £11m one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it to date, with one since having left - the manager pushed for increased resources and, oftentimes, he did it in openly.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his comments at his next news conference he would usually downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, all are united, he'd say. It looked like he was playing a risky strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly originated from a source close to the club. It said that the manager was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

He didn't want to be present and he was engineering his exit, this was the implication of the story.

The fans were enraged. They then viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his directors wouldn't back his vision to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to hurt him, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we learned no more about it.

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

The regular {gripes