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Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of their manager's shock departure via a brief five-paragraph communication, the howitzer landed, from Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious anger.

In an extensive statement, key investor Desmond savaged his former ally.

This individual he convinced to come to the club when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and required being back in a box. Plus the figure he again turned to after the previous manager left for another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the severity of Desmond's takedown, the jaw-dropping comeback of the former boss was practically an after-thought.

Two decades after his departure from the club, and after much of his latter years was given over to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at the team, O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a while. Considering comments he has said recently, O'Neill has been eager to get a new position. He'll view this role as the perfect opportunity, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and praise.

Will he relinquish it easily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the most significant 'wow!' development was the brutal way the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-interest at the cost of others," stated Desmond.

For somebody who prizes propriety and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not complete secrecy, this was a further illustration of how abnormal things have become at the club.

Desmond, the organization's most powerful figure, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to take all the major calls he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not attend team AGMs, sending his offspring, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to support the organization with confidential messages to media organisations, but no statement is made in the open.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, carefully, one must question why he allow it to get this far down the line?

If Rodgers is guilty of all of the accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why was the manager not dismissed?

He has accused him of distorting information in open forums that did not tally with the facts.

He says his words "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the team and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the management and the board. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be mobilising as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Model Again

To return to happier days, they were close, the two men. Rodgers lauded Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Rodgers deferred to Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

It was Desmond who took the criticism when Rodgers' returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other supporters would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the difficulty for Leicester.

Desmond had his support. Over time, Rodgers turned on the charm, achieved the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

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

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with bells on, over the last year. He publicly commented about the sluggish way the team conducted their transfer business, the endless delay 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 market. The fans concurred with him.

Even when the organization splurged unprecedented sums of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - all of whom have performed well to date, with one since having left - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion within the club and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next news conference he would usually downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It looked like he was engaging in a risky game.

Earlier this year there was a story in a newspaper that allegedly came from a insider close to the organization. It claimed that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was orchestrating his exit strategy.

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

The fans were angered. They now viewed him as akin to a martyr who might be removed on his honor because his board members wouldn't support his vision to bring triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. Whether there was a examination then we heard no more about it.

By then it was plain the manager was shedding the backing of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes