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Just a quarter of an hour following the club released the announcement of their manager's shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the bombshell arrived, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

Through an extensive statement, key investor Dermot Desmond savaged his old chum.

This individual he convinced to join the club when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and needed putting back in a box. Plus the man he once more relied on after the previous manager departed to Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of his takedown, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was practically an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, 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 comments he has said recently, he has been eager to get a new position. He'll view this role as the perfect chance, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Will he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a balm for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' development was the harsh way the shareholder described the former manager.

This constituted a forceful attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the expense of everyone else," stated he.

For somebody who values propriety and places great store in business being done with discretion, if not complete secrecy, this was a further illustration of how abnormal situations have grown at the club.

Desmond, the club's dominant presence, moves in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to take all the important calls he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never participate in club AGMs, sending his offspring, his son, instead. He rarely, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to support the organization with confidential missives to media organisations, but nothing is made in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And it's just what he went against when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to get such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of all of the accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the coach not dismissed?

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

He says Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the team and encouraged hostility towards individuals of the management and the directors. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

What an remarkable charge, that is. Lawyers might be preparing as we speak.

His Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Model Once More'

Looking back to happier times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him every chance. Brendan respected him and, truly, to nobody else.

It was the figure who drew the heat when his comeback happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most controversial hiring, the reappearance of the returning hero for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the charm, achieved the wins and the trophies, and an fragile truce with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

There was always - always - going to be a point when his ambition came in contact with Celtic's business model, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened again, with bells on, over the last year. He spoke openly about the sluggish way Celtic went about their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the necessity for what he termed "flexibility" in the transfer window. The fans agreed with him.

Even when the organization spent record amounts of money in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the costly another player and the significant Auston Trusty - none of whom have cut it to date, with one already having departed - Rodgers demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his next media briefing he would typically minimize it and nearly reverse what he said.

Internal issues? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It looked like Rodgers was playing a dangerous game.

Earlier this year there was a story in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source close to the organization. It claimed that Rodgers was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.

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

Supporters were enraged. They now viewed him as similar to a martyr who might be removed on his shield because his directors wouldn't support his plans to bring triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to hurt him, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals in charge.

The regular {gripes