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Just a quarter of an hour following the club released the news of their manager's shock departure via a brief five-paragraph statement, the howitzer arrived, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

Through an extensive statement, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

The man he convinced to join the team when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and required being in their place. Plus the figure he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

Such was the severity of Desmond's critique, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after much of his recent life was given over to an continuous circuit of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a while. Considering comments he has expressed lately, O'Neill has been keen to get another job. He will see this role as the perfect opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic could possibly reach out to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest shocking development was the brutal way Desmond described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the expense of others," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes propriety and sets high importance in dealings being done with discretion, if not complete secrecy, this was another illustration of how unusual things have grown at the club.

The major figure, the organization's most powerful figure, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to make all the major decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not attend team AGMs, dispatching his son, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to support the organization with private messages to media organisations, but nothing is made in public.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to be. And it's exactly what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, 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 accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why had been the coach not dismissed?

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

He claims Rodgers' words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the club and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the management and the directors. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

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

His Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to happier times, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan respected him and, really, to no one other.

This was the figure who drew the heat when Rodgers' returned occurred, after the previous manager.

It was the most divisive appointment, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other supporters would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had Rodgers' support. Over time, the manager turned on the charm, delivered the wins and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the fans became a love-in once more.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a point when Rodgers' ambition came in contact with the club's business model, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the slow process the team went about their player acquisitions, the endless waiting for targets to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

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

Even when the organization splurged unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with one already having left - the manager demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in openly.

He planted a controversy about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his subsequent news conference he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd say. It appeared like he was engaging in a risky strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source close to the club. It claimed that Rodgers was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his exit strategy.

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

The fans were enraged. They now saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his directors wouldn't back his plans to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, naturally, and it was meant to hurt him, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. Whether there was a examination then we heard nothing further about it.

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

The regular {gripes