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Just fifteen minutes after the club issued the news of their manager's shock departure via a brief five-paragraph statement, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

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 that period and needed putting in their place. Plus the man he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the recent offseason.

Such was the severity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his recent life was given over to an continuous circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a while. Considering things he has said lately, he has been eager to secure a new position. He'll see this one as the ultimate chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Will he give it up easily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club might well reach out to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will serve as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the biggest shocking development was the harsh manner the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

It was a forceful endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the cost of others," stated he.

For somebody who values decorum and sets high importance in business being conducted with discretion, if not outright secrecy, here was a further example of how abnormal things have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, 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 participate in team annual meetings, sending his offspring, his son, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's reluctant to communicate.

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

It's exactly how he's wanted it to remain. And it's exactly what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on the manager on that day.

The official line from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to get such a critical point?

If the manager is guilty of all of the accusations that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the coach not removed?

Desmond has accused him of distorting information in public that did not tally with reality.

He says Rodgers' words "have contributed to a hostile 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 loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary charge, that is. Lawyers might be mobilising as we speak.

'Rodgers' Aspirations Clashed with the Club's Model Again

To return to better days, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised the shareholder at every turn, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Brendan respected him and, really, to nobody else.

It was Desmond who drew the heat when Rodgers' comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as other supporters would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had his back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, delivered the victories and the honors, and an fragile peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his goals clashed with Celtic's operational approach, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers publicly commented about the slow way the team went about their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he spoke about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent unprecedented sums of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly another player and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have performed well so far, with one since having departed - the manager demanded more and more and, often, he did it in public.

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

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, all are united, he'd say. It looked like he was playing a risky game.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that allegedly originated from a source close to the organization. It claimed that Rodgers was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his departure plan.

He desired not to be there and he was engineering his exit, that was the implication of the article.

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

This disclosure was damaging, of course, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it did. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we heard no more about it.

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

The regular {gripes