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Just fifteen minutes after Celtic issued the news of Brendan Rodgers' surprising departure via a perfunctory short statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent anger.

Through 551-words, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

This individual he convinced to join the team when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and needed putting back in a box. Plus the man he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the severity of Desmond's takedown, the jaw-dropping comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending series of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Based on things he has expressed lately, O'Neill has been eager to secure a new position. He will view this role as the perfect chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Would he relinquish it easily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be parked because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the brutal way Desmond wrote of the former manager.

It was a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a branding of him as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes propriety and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, this was a further illustration of how abnormal situations have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's most powerful presence, moves in the margins. The remote leader, the one with the power to take all the important decisions he wants without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not participate in team AGMs, sending his son, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, does interviews about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the club with confidential messages to news outlets, but nothing is made in the open.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And that's exactly what he contradicted when going all-out attack on the manager on that day.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reading his invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get this far down the line?

Assuming the manager is guilty of all of the accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it's fair to inquire why was the coach not removed?

Desmond has charged him of spinning information in public that did not tally with the facts.

He claims his words "played a part to a hostile atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable."

What an extraordinary charge, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

His Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to better days, they were close, the two men. The manager praised the shareholder at every turn, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Brendan deferred to him and, really, to no one other.

It was Desmond who drew the heat when his returned happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most divisive hiring, the return of the returning hero for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had his back. Over time, Rodgers turned on the charm, achieved the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the fans turned into a love-in once more.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when his ambition came in contact with Celtic's business model, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with bells on, recently. He spoke openly about the sluggish way the team went about their player acquisitions, the endless waiting for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Time and again he spoke about the necessity for what he called "agility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Even when the organization splurged record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well so far, with Idah since having left - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, often, he expressed this in public.

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

Internal issues? No, no, all are united, he'd say. It looked like Rodgers was playing a risky strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a insider associated with the organization. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

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

The fans were angered. They now saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his board members wouldn't support his plans to bring success.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to hurt him, which it did. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. If there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was plain Rodgers was shedding the backing of the people above him.

The regular {gripes