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Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of their manager's surprising departure via a brief short communication, the howitzer arrived, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

In 551-words, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

The man he convinced to join the team when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and required being in their place. And the man he once more turned to after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

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

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an continuous series of appearances and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering things he has expressed recently, he has been keen to get another job. He'll view this one as the ultimate chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such success and adulation.

Will he relinquish it easily? It seems unlikely. The club might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it is - can be parked because the most significant shocking development was the harsh way the shareholder described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a branding of him as untrustful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For a person who values decorum and places great store in business being done with confidentiality, if not outright privacy, here was another illustration of how unusual situations have become at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's most powerful figure, operates in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to make all the major decisions he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not attend club annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, Ross, instead. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're glowing in nature. And still, he's slow to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to defend the organization with private missives to news outlets, but nothing is made in the open.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And that's just what he went against when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

The official line from the club is that he stepped down, but reading Desmond's invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he permit it to get this far down the line?

If the manager is culpable of all of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it's fair to inquire why had been the manager not dismissed?

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

He claims his words "have contributed to a toxic environment around the team and encouraged animosity towards members of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

What an remarkable allegation, that is. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Ambition Conflicted with the Club's Strategy Again

Looking back to happier days, they were tight, the two men. The manager lauded Desmond at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers respected him and, really, to nobody else.

This was the figure who drew the criticism when Rodgers' comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial appointment, the return of the returning hero for some supporters or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' support. Over time, the manager employed the persuasion, achieved the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy truce with the fans turned into a love-in once more.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a moment when his ambition clashed with the club's business model, however.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with added intensity, recently. He publicly commented about the slow process the team went about their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the necessity for what he called "flexibility" in the market. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the club splurged unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the £9m another player and the £6m further acquisition - all of whom have cut it so far, with Idah already having left - the manager pushed for increased resources and, often, he expressed this in openly.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity inside the team and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his next media briefing he would typically downplay it and almost contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a risky game.

Earlier this year there was a story in a publication that purportedly originated from a source associated with the club. It claimed that Rodgers was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

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

Supporters were enraged. They then viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his directors wouldn't back his plans to bring triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He called for an investigation and for the guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we heard nothing further about it.

At that point it was plain Rodgers was shedding the support of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes