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Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of their manager's surprising resignation via a perfunctory short statement, the bombshell arrived, from the major shareholder, with clear signs in obvious fury.

Through 551-words, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

This individual he convinced to join the club when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and needed putting in their place. And the man he again turned to after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing return of the former boss was practically an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the club, and after much of his recent life was dedicated to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering comments he has said recently, he has been eager to secure a new position. He'll view this role as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Would he relinquish it easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to sound out Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be parked because the biggest shocking development was the harsh manner the shareholder described Rodgers.

It was a forceful endeavor at defamation, a labeling of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's desire for self-interest at the cost of others," stated he.

For a person who prizes decorum and places great store in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not outright privacy, this was a further example of how abnormal situations have become at Celtic.

Desmond, the club's most powerful presence, operates in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the power to take all the major decisions he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not participate in team annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives 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 support the organization with confidential missives to media organisations, but nothing is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The directive from the team is that he resigned, but reviewing Desmond's invective, line by line, one must question why he allow it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of all of the accusations that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the manager not removed?

He has charged him of distorting information in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic environment around the club and encouraged hostility towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

Such an extraordinary charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we speak.

'Rodgers' Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Again

To return to happier days, they were close, the two men. Rodgers lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to him and, truly, to nobody else.

It was the figure who took the heat when his comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive appointment, the return of the returning hero for some supporters or, as other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had his back. Over time, the manager turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a moment when Rodgers' goals came in contact with the club's operational approach, though.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with added intensity, over the last year. He spoke openly about the sluggish way Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for prospects to be landed, then not landed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he termed "flexibility" in the transfer window. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have performed well so far, with one since having left - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, often, he did it in openly.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity within the team and then walked away. When asked about his comments at his next media briefing he would typically downplay it and nearly contradict what he said.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like he was playing a dangerous game.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that purportedly originated from a insider associated with the club. It claimed that the manager was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

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

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

This disclosure was damaging, of course, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. If there was a examination then we learned nothing further about it.

At that point it was plain the manager was losing the support of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes