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Just fifteen minutes following Celtic issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' surprising resignation via a perfunctory short statement, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in apparent fury.

In an extensive statement, major shareholder Dermot Desmond savaged his former ally.

The man he convinced to join the team when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and needed putting back in a box. Plus the man he again relied on after the previous manager departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of his critique, the jaw-dropping return of the former boss was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his recent life was dedicated to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a time. Considering things he has said lately, he has been eager to secure a new position. He will see this role as the ultimate opportunity, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such success and adulation.

Will he relinquish it readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic could possibly make a call to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Effort at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest shocking moment was the brutal manner Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the expense of others," stated Desmond.

For somebody who values decorum and places great store in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, here was a further example of how abnormal things have grown at the club.

Desmond, the club's most powerful presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to take all the major decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He never participate in club AGMs, sending his son, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

He has been known on an occasion or two to support the club with confidential messages to media organisations, but no statement is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And that's exactly what he went against when going full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing his invective, line by line, one must question why did he allow it to reach this far down the line?

Assuming the manager is culpable of every one of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the manager not removed?

Desmond has charged him of spinning things in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the team and encouraged hostility towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and unacceptable."

What an extraordinary allegation, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we speak.

'Rodgers' Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

To return to better times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Brendan respected Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

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

This marked the most controversial hiring, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Gradually, Rodgers employed the charm, achieved the victories and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the supporters became a love-in once more.

There was always - always - going to be a moment when Rodgers' ambition came in contact with the club's operational approach, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish way Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for prospects to be secured, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

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

Despite the organization spent unprecedented sums of funds in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have performed well to date, with one already having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, often, he expressed this in public.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the team and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would usually minimize it and nearly contradict what he stated.

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

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source associated with the club. It said that Rodgers was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

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

Supporters were enraged. They now saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his directors wouldn't back his vision to bring success.

The leak was damaging, of course, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

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

The regular {gripes