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Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory short communication, the howitzer landed, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

In 551-words, major shareholder Dermot Desmond savaged his old chum.

The man he persuaded to join the team when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and required being back in a box. And the figure he once more turned to after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing return 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 given over to an continuous series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Based on comments he has expressed lately, he has been eager to get another job. He will see this role as the ultimate chance, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such success and adulation.

Would he relinquish it easily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well reach out to sound out Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it may be - can be parked because the biggest shocking development was the harsh way Desmond wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote he.

For somebody who values decorum and places great store in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not complete secrecy, here was another illustration of how unusual situations have become at Celtic.

Desmond, the club's dominant presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to make all the important calls he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any open setting.

He never participate in club annual meetings, sending his son, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, does interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's slow to speak out.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the organization with confidential messages to media organisations, but nothing is made in the open.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to remain. And it's exactly what he went against when going full thermonuclear on the manager on that day.

The directive from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reading Desmond's criticism, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to reach this far down the line?

If the manager is culpable of every one of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, 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 the facts.

He claims Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a hostile environment around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

What an remarkable allegation, that is. Lawyers might be mobilising as we speak.

'Rodgers' Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Again

To return to happier days, they were close, the two men. The manager lauded Desmond at every turn, thanked him every chance. Brendan respected him and, truly, to nobody else.

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

This marked 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 departed in the lurch for Leicester.

The shareholder had his support. Gradually, the manager employed the charm, delivered the victories and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the fans became a affectionate relationship again.

There was always - always - going to be a moment when Rodgers' goals clashed with Celtic's business model, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired once more, with bells on, recently. He spoke openly about the sluggish process Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the need for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. The fans agreed with him.

Even when the club splurged unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well to date, with one already having departed - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, often, he expressed this in openly.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next news conference he would usually minimize 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 dangerous strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that purportedly originated from a insider close to the organization. It said that the manager was damaging Celtic with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his exit, that was the implication of the article.

Supporters were enraged. They now saw him as akin to a martyr who might be carried out on his shield because his board members wouldn't support his plans to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, of course, and it was meant to hurt him, which it did. He demanded for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we heard no more about it.

At that point it was plain Rodgers was losing the backing of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes