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Merely a quarter of an hour after Celtic released the announcement of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory short statement, the bombshell landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent anger.

Through an extensive statement, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

This individual he persuaded to join the club when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. Plus the man he again turned to after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the severity of Desmond's critique, the jaw-dropping comeback of Martin O'Neill was practically an after-thought.

Two decades after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a while. Based on comments he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been eager to secure another job. He will see this one as the ultimate chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such glory and adulation.

Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club could possibly reach out to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - however strange as it is - can be parked because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the harsh way Desmond described the former manager.

It was a forceful attempt at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-preservation at the cost of others," wrote Desmond.

For a person who prizes propriety and places great store in business being done with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, here was a further illustration of how abnormal things have become at the club.

Desmond, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to make all the important calls he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not attend club annual meetings, sending his son, his son, in his place. He rarely, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in nature. And still, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the organization with confidential missives to media organisations, but no statement is made in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And that's exactly what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing his invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get this far down the line?

If the manager is guilty of every one of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it's fair to ask why was the manager not removed?

He has charged him of spinning information in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says his statements "played a part to a toxic environment around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the management and the directors. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and unacceptable."

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

His Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Model Once More'

To return to better days, they were close, the two men. Rodgers praised Desmond at every turn, thanked him every chance. Brendan respected Dermot and, truly, to no one other.

It was Desmond who drew the criticism when his comeback happened, after the previous manager.

It was the most controversial hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other supporters would have put it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had Rodgers' back. Over time, Rodgers employed the charm, achieved the victories and the honors, and an fragile truce with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when his ambition clashed with the club's operational approach, however.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with bells on, over the last year. He spoke openly about the slow process Celtic went about their transfer business, the endless waiting for targets to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Time and again he spoke about the necessity for what he called "flexibility" 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 Arne Engels, the costly Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have cut it to date, with one since having departed - the manager pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in public.

He planted 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 minimize it and almost contradict what he said.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a risky strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that allegedly originated from a insider close to the club. It said that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be present and he was arranging his way out, that was the implication of the story.

The fans were angered. They then saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his board members did not back his vision to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be dismissed. If there was a examination then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was clear the manager was shedding the backing of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes