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Just a quarter of an hour after Celtic issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

Through 551-words, key investor 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. And the figure he again relied on after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of his critique, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his recent life was dedicated to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a time. Based on comments he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been keen to secure another job. He'll see this one as the perfect opportunity, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such glory and praise.

Would he relinquish it easily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well reach out to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a balm for the time being.

All-out Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' development was the harsh way the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

It was a forceful attempt at character assassination, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the expense of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For somebody who values propriety and places great store in business being conducted with discretion, if not outright privacy, here was another example of how abnormal things have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's dominant presence, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to take all the major decisions he wants without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He never participate in club annual meetings, sending his son, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the club with private messages to media organisations, but no statement is made in public.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he went against when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reading his criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why did he allow it to reach such a critical point?

If the manager is guilty of every one of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it's fair to inquire why had been the coach not dismissed?

He has accused him of distorting things in open forums that were inconsistent with reality.

He says Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the management and the directors. A portion of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

What an extraordinary allegation, that is. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we speak.

His Ambition Conflicted with the Club's Model Once More'

Looking back to better times, they were close, the two men. The manager lauded Desmond at every turn, thanked him every chance. Rodgers respected him and, really, to nobody else.

This was Desmond who drew the criticism when his returned happened, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the returning hero for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had Rodgers' support. Over time, Rodgers employed the persuasion, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

There was always - always - going to be a moment when Rodgers' ambition clashed with Celtic's operational approach, though.

It happened in his initial tenure and it transpired once more, with bells on, recently. Rodgers publicly commented about the slow process the team conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the need for what he called "agility" in the market. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the organization spent record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with Idah since having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, often, he did it in public.

He planted a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the club and then walked away. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next news conference he would usually minimize it and nearly reverse what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It appeared like he was engaging in a dangerous game.

Earlier this year there was a story in a publication that allegedly originated from a source associated with the club. It claimed that Rodgers was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

He didn't want to be present and he was engineering his exit, this was the tone of the article.

Supporters were enraged. They then viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his directors wouldn't support his plans to bring triumph.

The leak was poisonous, naturally, and it was intended to harm him, which it accomplished. He demanded for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we heard no more about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes