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Just a quarter of an hour after Celtic issued the news of their manager's surprising departure via a brief five-paragraph communication, the bombshell landed, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent anger.

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

This individual he convinced to join the team when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and needed putting back in a box. And the figure he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing return of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Two decades after his exit from the club, and after much of his latter years was given over to an continuous series of appearances and the playing of all his past successes at the team, O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

Currently - and maybe for a time. Considering things he has said recently, he has been keen to get a new position. He'll view this one as the ultimate chance, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he enjoyed such success and praise.

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

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the biggest shocking moment was the harsh way Desmond described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-preservation at the expense of everyone else," stated he.

For a person who values decorum and sets high importance in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, this was a further illustration of how abnormal things have become at the club.

The major figure, the club's most powerful presence, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the power to make all the important decisions he wants without having the responsibility of explaining them in any open setting.

He never participate in team AGMs, sending his son, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

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

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And it's just what he went against when going all-out attack on the manager on that day.

The directive from the club is that he stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, carefully, one must question why he allow it to reach this far down the line?

If Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it's fair to inquire why was the manager not dismissed?

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

He says his words "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the management and the board. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

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

'Rodgers' Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Model Again

Looking back to better times, they were close, the two men. Rodgers praised the shareholder at every turn, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers respected Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

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

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

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Over time, the manager employed the charm, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an fragile truce with the supporters became a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his ambition clashed with the club's operational approach, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with bells on, over the last year. He spoke openly about the sluggish process the team conducted their player acquisitions, the endless delay for prospects to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he termed "flexibility" in the transfer window. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the club splurged unprecedented sums of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the costly another player and the £6m Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it to date, with Idah already having left - the manager demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in openly.

He planted a controversy about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his next news conference he would usually downplay it and nearly reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It looked like he was engaging in a risky strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that allegedly came from a source associated with the club. It said that Rodgers was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

He desired not to be present and he was engineering his exit, that was the tone of the story.

Supporters were angered. They then saw him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his directors did not support his plans to bring triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to hurt him, which it accomplished. 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.

By then it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the people in charge.

The frequent {gripes