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Just fifteen minutes after Celtic released the announcement of their manager's surprising departure via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the bombshell landed, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

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

This individual he persuaded to come to the club when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and needed putting back in a box. And the man he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of Desmond's critique, the astonishing return of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an unending circuit of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Based on things he has said recently, he has been keen to secure another job. He will see this one as the perfect chance, a present from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Would he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will serve as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's return - however strange as it is - can be parked because the biggest shocking moment was the harsh way Desmond described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," stated Desmond.

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

Desmond, the club's dominant figure, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to take all the major calls he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not participate in team annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's slow to speak out.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to support the organization with private missives to news outlets, but nothing is heard in the open.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And that's exactly what he went against when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the club is that he stepped down, but reading his invective, carefully, you have to wonder why did he permit it to get such a critical point?

Assuming the manager is culpable of every one of the accusations that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it's fair to inquire why had been the manager not dismissed?

He has accused him of spinning things in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says Rodgers' words "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the management and the board. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

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

'Rodgers' Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

To return to better times, they were close, the two men. The manager lauded Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to him and, truly, to no one other.

This was the figure who took the criticism when Rodgers' comeback occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial appointment, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the difficulty for another club.

The shareholder had Rodgers' support. Gradually, Rodgers employed the persuasion, achieved the victories and the honors, 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 business model, however.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. He spoke openly about the sluggish way Celtic conducted their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the need for what he termed "flexibility" in the market. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent record amounts of money in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it to date, with Idah already having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, often, he did it in openly.

He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then walked away. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next news conference he would typically downplay it and nearly contradict what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It appeared like he was engaging in a risky strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a source associated with the club. It said that Rodgers was harming Celtic with his public outbursts and that his true aim was orchestrating his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his exit, that was the tone of the article.

The fans were enraged. They then viewed him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his board members did not support his vision to bring success.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it did. 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 plain Rodgers was losing the support of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes