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Just fifteen minutes following Celtic released the announcement of their manager's shock departure via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the howitzer landed, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

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

The man he convinced to join the club when Rangers were gaining ground in 2016 and needed putting in their place. Plus the figure he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of his critique, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after much of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous circuit of appearances and the playing of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

Currently - and maybe for a time. Based on things he has expressed recently, he has been keen to get another job. He'll view this one as the ultimate chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such success and praise.

Will he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly make a call to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the moment.

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - however strange as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant shocking moment was the harsh manner Desmond described Rodgers.

This constituted a forceful endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who values decorum and places great store in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, this was a further illustration of how abnormal situations have become at the club.

Desmond, the organization's most powerful presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to take all the major decisions he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never participate in team AGMs, dispatching his offspring, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's slow to speak out.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the organization with confidential missives to news outlets, but no statement is made in the open.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And it's exactly what he contradicted when going all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the club is that he stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's invective, carefully, you have to wonder why he permit it to get this far down the line?

Assuming the manager is culpable of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to ask why had been the manager not removed?

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

He claims his words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the club and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the management and the board. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

What an remarkable allegation, indeed. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we speak.

'Rodgers' Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Again

To return to better days, they were tight, the two men. The manager lauded Desmond at all opportunities, thanked him every chance. Rodgers respected him and, truly, to no one other.

This was Desmond who took the criticism when Rodgers' returned happened, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial appointment, the return of the returning hero for a few or, as some other supporters would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had his back. Gradually, Rodgers employed the persuasion, achieved the wins and the trophies, and an fragile truce with the supporters became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when his ambition clashed with Celtic's business model, though.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with bells on, recently. Rodgers publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the endless delay for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was too often the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he called "flexibility" in the market. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the organization splurged unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the costly another player and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have performed well to date, with Idah already having departed - the manager pushed for increased resources and, often, he did it in openly.

He planted a bomb about a lack of cohesion within the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his next media briefing he would typically downplay it and nearly reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It looked like he was engaging in a risky strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a insider close to the club. It claimed that Rodgers was damaging the team with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was orchestrating his exit strategy.

He desired not to be there and he was arranging his way out, this was the implication of the article.

The fans were enraged. They now saw him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his shield because his board members wouldn't back his plans to achieve success.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, 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 learned no more about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was losing the support of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes