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Merely fifteen minutes following Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's shock departure via a brief five-paragraph communication, the bombshell arrived, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

In 551-words, major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

This individual he convinced to come to the club when Rangers were gaining ground in 2016 and required being back in a box. And the man he once more relied on after the previous manager departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the ferocity of his critique, the jaw-dropping return of the former boss was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a while. Based on comments he has said lately, he has been eager to get a new position. He'll see this one as the ultimate chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Will he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - however strange as it is - can be parked because the most significant shocking development was the harsh way the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

It was a forceful endeavor at defamation, a branding of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, misleading and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the expense of others," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes decorum and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not outright privacy, this was a further illustration of how abnormal things have become at the club.

Desmond, the organization's most powerful figure, operates in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to make all the major calls he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He does not participate in club AGMs, dispatching his son, Ross, instead. He seldom, if ever, does interviews about the team unless they're glowing in nature. And still, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the organization with confidential missives to news outlets, but nothing is made in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And that's exactly what he went against when going full thermonuclear on the manager on that day.

The official line from the team is that he stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's invective, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to reach this far down the line?

If the manager is culpable of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the manager not removed?

He has charged him of spinning information in open forums that did not tally with reality.

He says Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the team and encouraged animosity towards members of the executive team and the board. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary allegation, that is. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

His Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Again

To return to better times, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.

This was the figure who took the criticism when his returned happened, after the previous manager.

It was the most controversial hiring, the reappearance of the returning hero 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. Over time, Rodgers employed the persuasion, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the fans became a affectionate relationship once more.

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

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with bells on, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the slow way the team conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for prospects to be secured, then missed, as was too often the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he spoke about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the expensive Arne Engels, the costly Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with one since having departed - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, often, he expressed this in openly.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity inside the team and then walked away. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would usually minimize it and almost reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly originated from a source close to the club. It claimed that the manager was harming Celtic with his public outbursts and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

He desired not to be there and he was engineering his exit, this was the tone of the article.

Supporters were angered. They then saw him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his directors wouldn't back his plans to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it did. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. If there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

By then it was clear the manager was losing the backing of the people above him.

The regular {gripes