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Merely a quarter of an hour after the club released the announcement of their manager's surprising resignation via a perfunctory short statement, the howitzer landed, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent anger.

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

The man he persuaded to join the team when their rivals were gaining ground in 2016 and required being in their place. Plus the figure he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's critique, the jaw-dropping return of the former boss was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his old hits at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Considering things he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been keen to secure another job. He'll see this role as the perfect chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the environment where he experienced such glory and praise.

Would he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly make a call to sound out Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the biggest shocking moment was the harsh manner the shareholder described Rodgers.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a labeling of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the cost of others," stated Desmond.

For a person who prizes decorum and sets high importance in business being done with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, this was another illustration of how unusual situations have become at the club.

The major figure, the organization's most powerful figure, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to take all the major calls he pleases without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not attend team annual meetings, sending his son, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the club with confidential messages to news outlets, but nothing is made in the open.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And it's just what he went against when going full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing his invective, line by line, you have to wonder why he allow it to get such a critical point?

If Rodgers is culpable of all of the accusations that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to inquire why had been the manager not dismissed?

He has accused him of spinning things in public that did not tally with the facts.

He says Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic environment around the team and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

What an extraordinary allegation, that is. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Aspirations Clashed with the Club's Strategy Once More'

To return to better days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Rodgers respected him and, truly, to no one other.

It was the figure who drew the criticism when his returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most divisive appointment, the reappearance 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 Leicester.

The shareholder had Rodgers' back. Gradually, Rodgers employed the persuasion, delivered the wins and the honors, and an fragile peace with the supporters turned into a love-in once more.

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

It happened in his initial tenure and it happened again, with bells on, over the last year. He spoke openly about the slow way Celtic conducted their transfer business, the endless waiting for prospects to be secured, then not landed, 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 transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Even when the organization spent unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have performed well so far, with one already having departed - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, oftentimes, he did it in public.

He planted a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the team and then walked away. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would usually downplay it and nearly contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a risky strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a insider associated with the club. It said that Rodgers was harming the team 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 akin to a martyr who might be removed on his honor because his board members wouldn't back his plans to bring triumph.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to harm him, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. If there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was losing the support of the people in charge.

The frequent {gripes