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Just fifteen minutes following Celtic issued the news of Brendan Rodgers' shock departure via a perfunctory five-paragraph communication, the howitzer arrived, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

In 551-words, key investor Desmond savaged his old chum.

The man he convinced to come to the club when their rivals were gaining ground in 2016 and required being back in a box. Plus the figure he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

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

Two decades after his exit from the organization, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending circuit of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Based on things he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been eager to get a new position. He will see this role as the perfect chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such glory and praise.

Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic could possibly make a call to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the most significant shocking development was the brutal manner the shareholder described the former manager.

It was a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the expense of others," stated Desmond.

For somebody who values decorum and places great store in dealings being done with discretion, if not outright privacy, this was a further illustration of how unusual situations have become at the club.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the authority to make all the important calls he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not participate in club AGMs, dispatching his son, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's slow to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to defend the club with private messages to news outlets, but no statement is made in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And that's exactly what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the club is that he resigned, but reading Desmond's invective, carefully, you have to wonder why did he allow it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of all of the things that the shareholder is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the manager not dismissed?

He has charged him of spinning things in open forums that did not tally with the facts.

He says his statements "have contributed to a hostile environment around the club 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 unwarranted and improper."

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

'Rodgers' Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Model Again

Looking back to happier times, they were close, the two men. The manager praised Desmond at every turn, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers respected Dermot and, truly, to no one other.

This was Desmond who took the heat when Rodgers' comeback occurred, after the previous manager.

It was the most divisive appointment, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as other supporters would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for another club.

Desmond had his back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an fragile truce with the supporters became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his ambition clashed with the club's business model, though.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. He publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic went about their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be landed, 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 transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Even when the organization splurged record amounts of money in a calendar year on the expensive Arne Engels, the costly Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have cut it to date, with Idah since having departed - the manager demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity within the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his subsequent news conference he would usually downplay it and nearly contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It looked like he was engaging in a risky game.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that allegedly originated from a source close to the organization. It claimed that Rodgers was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

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

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

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals above him.

The regular {gripes