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Merely a quarter of an hour following the club released the news of Brendan Rodgers' shock departure via a brief five-paragraph statement, the howitzer landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

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

This individual he convinced to come to the team when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and required being in their place. And the figure he again relied on after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

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

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after much of his latter years was dedicated to an unending circuit of appearances and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Considering things he has expressed lately, he has been eager to get another job. He'll view this one as the ultimate chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and adulation.

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

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant shocking moment was the brutal manner Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the expense of others," stated he.

For somebody who prizes propriety and sets high importance in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, here was another illustration of how abnormal things have become at the club.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the power to take all the important calls he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never participate in club annual meetings, dispatching his son, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And still, he's slow to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to support the organization with private messages to media organisations, 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 launching full thermonuclear on Rodgers on that day.

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

If the manager is guilty of all of the accusations that Desmond is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why had been the manager not dismissed?

He has accused him of distorting information in public that did not tally with reality.

He claims his words "played a part to a hostile environment around the team and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the board. A portion of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and improper."

Such an extraordinary allegation, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we speak.

His Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Again

Looking back to better days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Rodgers respected Dermot and, truly, to no one other.

It was the figure who took the heat when Rodgers' returned happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most divisive appointment, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had his back. Gradually, the manager employed the charm, delivered the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the fans turned into a love-in again.

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

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers publicly commented about the slow process the team went about their transfer business, the endless waiting for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the necessity for what he called "agility" in the market. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the club spent record amounts of money 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 Idah already having departed - the manager pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in public.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his next news conference he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

Internal issues? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a dangerous game.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that purportedly originated from a source associated with the organization. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his public outbursts and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

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

Supporters were angered. They then saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his directors did not support his plans to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, of course, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an inquiry 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 the manager was losing the backing of the individuals in charge.

The frequent {gripes