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Just a quarter of an hour after Celtic released the news of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory short communication, the howitzer landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

Through 551-words, key investor Dermot Desmond savaged his old chum.

The man he persuaded to come to the team when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. Plus the figure he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the recent offseason.

Such was the severity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing return of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.

Two decades after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his past successes at the team, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering things he has said lately, O'Neill has been eager to get another job. He'll see this one as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such glory and adulation.

Will he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well make a call to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the brutal manner Desmond described Rodgers.

It was a forceful attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For somebody who prizes propriety and places great store in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, here was another illustration of how abnormal things have grown at the club.

Desmond, the club's dominant figure, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to take all the major calls he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any public forum.

He never participate in club annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the club with confidential missives to media organisations, but nothing is heard in the open.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to be. And that's exactly what he contradicted 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 did he permit it to reach such a critical point?

If Rodgers is culpable of all of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why had been the coach not dismissed?

Desmond has charged him of spinning things in public that did not tally with reality.

He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a hostile atmosphere around the team and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and unacceptable."

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

His Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Model Once More'

To return to better times, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to him and, truly, to no one other.

This was Desmond who drew the criticism when his comeback occurred, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most divisive hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had his back. Over time, the manager employed the charm, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an fragile truce with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

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

It happened in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable 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 "flexibility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the organization splurged record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it to date, with Idah since having departed - the manager pushed for increased resources and, often, he did it in public.

He planted a bomb about a lack of cohesion within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his next news conference he would typically minimize 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 dangerous game.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly originated from a source close to the club. It claimed that the manager was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his way out, this was the tone of the story.

The fans were angered. They now viewed him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his directors wouldn't support his plans to achieve success.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to harm him, which it did. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

By then it was plain Rodgers was losing the backing of the individuals in charge.

The frequent {gripes