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Just fifteen minutes following Celtic released the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock departure via a perfunctory short statement, the howitzer arrived, from Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious anger.

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

The man he persuaded to join the club when Rangers were gaining ground in that period and needed putting in their place. Plus the man he again turned to after the previous manager left for another club in the recent offseason.

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

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his recent life was dedicated to an unending series of appearances and the playing of all his past successes at the team, O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

Currently - and maybe for a while. Considering comments he has said recently, he has been keen to secure another job. He'll see this one as the perfect chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the place where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Would he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly reach out to sound out Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Effort at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - however strange as it may be - can be parked because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the brutal way the shareholder described the former manager.

It was a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the expense of others," stated Desmond.

For somebody who prizes propriety and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not outright secrecy, here was a further example of how unusual things have become at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's dominant presence, operates in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the power to make all the major calls he pleases without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

He never attend club AGMs, sending his offspring, his son, instead. He rarely, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in nature. And still, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the club with private messages to news outlets, but nothing is made in public.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to remain. And that's exactly what he contradicted when going full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

The official line from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reading his invective, carefully, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is alleging he's responsible for, then it's fair to inquire why was the coach not removed?

Desmond has charged him of distorting information in open forums that did not tally with reality.

He claims Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and unacceptable."

What an remarkable charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we speak.

His Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to better days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan respected Dermot and, really, to no one other.

This was the figure who took the heat when his comeback happened, after the previous manager.

It was the most controversial hiring, the return of the returning hero for a few or, as other supporters would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

Desmond had his back. Over time, Rodgers employed the persuasion, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an fragile peace with the fans became a love-in again.

There was always - always - going to be a moment when his ambition came in contact with Celtic's business model, though.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened again, with bells on, over the last year. He publicly commented about the slow process the team went about their transfer business, the interminable waiting for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.

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

Even when the organization splurged record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have cut it so far, with Idah since having left - the manager demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in openly.

He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would typically minimize it and nearly reverse what he stated.

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

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a insider close to the club. It claimed that Rodgers was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his departure plan.

He desired not to be there and he was engineering his way out, that was the tone of the story.

Supporters were enraged. They then viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his directors wouldn't back his vision to achieve success.

This disclosure was damaging, of course, and it was meant to hurt him, which it did. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals in charge.

The regular {gripes