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Just fifteen minutes following Celtic released the announcement of their manager's shock departure via a brief short statement, the bombshell landed, from Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious anger.

Through an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond savaged his old chum.

This individual he persuaded to come to the club when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and required being back in a box. Plus the figure he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of his takedown, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an continuous circuit of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at the team, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Based on comments he has expressed lately, he has been eager to get a new position. He'll view this one as the perfect opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the environment where he experienced such success and adulation.

Will he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic could possibly make a call to sound out Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest shocking moment was the harsh manner the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

It was a forceful attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the expense of others," wrote he.

For a person who values decorum and sets high importance in business being done with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, this was a further illustration of how unusual things have grown at the club.

Desmond, the club's dominant figure, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the authority to make all the important calls he pleases without having the responsibility of justifying them in any public forum.

He never participate in team AGMs, sending his offspring, his son, instead. He rarely, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the organization with confidential messages to media organisations, but nothing is made in public.

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

The directive from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing his criticism, line by line, one must question why did he allow it to get this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of all of the accusations that the shareholder is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to ask why was the coach not dismissed?

He has accused him of spinning things in open forums that did not tally with reality.

He claims his words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the club and encouraged hostility towards individuals of the management and the board. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

Such an remarkable charge, indeed. Lawyers might be mobilising as we speak.

His Ambition Clashed with the Club's Model Again

To return to happier times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded the shareholder at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers respected Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

This was Desmond who took the criticism when his comeback happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most controversial hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other supporters would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had his support. Over time, Rodgers turned on the charm, delivered the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy truce with the supporters became a love-in again.

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

This occurred in his first incarnation and it happened again, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish process Celtic went about their transfer business, the endless waiting for targets to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he called "agility" in the market. The fans concurred with him.

Even when the club spent record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the costly another player and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have performed well to date, with Idah since having departed - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, often, he did it in public.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity inside the club and then walked away. When asked about his comments at his next media briefing he would usually minimize it and nearly contradict what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It looked like he was playing a dangerous game.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly originated from a source close to the club. It claimed that Rodgers was damaging the team with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

He desired not to be there and he was arranging his way out, this was the implication of the article.

The fans were enraged. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his board members did not support his vision to bring success.

The leak was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a examination then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was plain the manager was shedding the support of the individuals in charge.

The regular {gripes