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Just fifteen minutes after the club released the news of Brendan Rodgers' surprising resignation via a brief five-paragraph statement, the howitzer arrived, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

Through an extensive statement, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

This individual he convinced to join the club when their rivals were gaining ground in 2016 and required being back in a box. And the man he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the recent offseason.

Such was the severity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing return of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his departure from the organization, and after much of his recent life was given over to an continuous series of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Considering comments he has said lately, he has been eager to get a new position. He'll view this one as the ultimate chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such success and praise.

Would he relinquish it readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic could possibly reach out to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the most significant shocking moment was the harsh manner Desmond described Rodgers.

It was a forceful attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes propriety and places great store in business being done with discretion, if not complete secrecy, here was a further example of how unusual situations have grown at the club.

The major figure, the organization's most powerful figure, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to take all the major decisions he pleases without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not participate in team AGMs, dispatching his son, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does interviews about the team unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to defend the organization with private messages to media organisations, but nothing is made in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to be. And that's exactly what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The directive from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, line by line, one must question why did he permit it to get this far down the line?

If the manager is culpable of all of the accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to inquire why had been the manager not removed?

Desmond has accused him of distorting things in open forums that did not tally with reality.

He claims Rodgers' words "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the board. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and unacceptable."

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

'Rodgers' Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Model Again

To return to better times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers respected him and, really, to no one other.

This was the figure who drew the heat when his returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

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

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Over time, Rodgers employed the persuasion, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy truce with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

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

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers publicly commented about the slow way Celtic conducted their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the case as far as he was believed.

Time and again he spoke about the need for what he termed "agility" in the market. The fans concurred with him.

Even when the club splurged unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with one already having left - the manager pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd say. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous game.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly originated from a insider associated with the organization. It said that the manager was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.

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

The fans were angered. They then saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his board members wouldn't back his vision to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was intended 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.

At that point it was plain Rodgers was shedding the support of the people in charge.

The frequent {gripes