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Just fifteen minutes after Celtic issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' surprising resignation via a brief short communication, the howitzer landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in apparent fury.

Through an extensive statement, key investor Dermot Desmond savaged his old chum.

The man he persuaded to join the team when their rivals were gaining ground in 2016 and needed putting in their place. And the figure he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the severity of his takedown, the jaw-dropping comeback of the former boss was almost an after-thought.

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Based on things he has said recently, O'Neill has been eager to secure another job. He will see this role as the perfect chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Would he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' development was the brutal manner Desmond described the former manager.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For a person who values propriety and places great store in business being done with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, here was a further illustration of how unusual things have become at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's most powerful figure, moves in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to take all the major decisions he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not participate in team AGMs, dispatching his offspring, his son, in his place. He rarely, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's slow to communicate.

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

It's exactly how he's wanted it to remain. And it's just what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the team is that he stepped down, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, one must question why he permit it to reach such a critical point?

If Rodgers is guilty of all of the things that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why had been the coach not removed?

He has charged him of distorting information in public that did not tally with reality.

He claims his words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the club and fuelled animosity towards members of the executive team and the directors. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable."

Such an remarkable allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be mobilising as we speak.

His Ambition Clashed with the Club's Model Once More'

To return to better times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised the shareholder at every turn, thanked him every chance. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, really, to no one other.

It was the figure who took the criticism when his returned happened, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most controversial hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have put it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' support. Gradually, the manager turned on the persuasion, delivered the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the fans turned into a love-in again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a point when Rodgers' ambition clashed with Celtic's operational approach, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with added intensity, over the last year. He spoke openly about the slow process Celtic went about their transfer business, the endless delay for prospects 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 termed "flexibility" in the transfer window. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the club spent record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the significant Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well so far, with one since having left - Rodgers demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the club and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would typically downplay it and almost contradict what he stated.

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

A few months back there was a report in a publication that allegedly came from a source close to the organization. It said that Rodgers was damaging the team with his public outbursts and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

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

The fans were angered. They now viewed him as similar to a martyr who might be removed on his honor because his directors did not back his vision to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, naturally, and it was intended to harm Rodgers, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. If there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

At that point it was clear the manager was shedding the backing of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes