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Just a quarter of an hour after Celtic released the news of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory short statement, the howitzer landed, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

Through 551-words, key investor Desmond savaged his former ally.

The man he convinced to come to the team when their rivals were gaining ground in 2016 and required being back in a box. And the figure he once more relied on after the previous manager left for another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the severity of his takedown, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous circuit of appearances and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a time. Based on comments he has said recently, he has been keen to get a new position. He'll see this role as the perfect opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and praise.

Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic could possibly reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's reappearance - however strange as it is - can be parked because the biggest 'wow!' development was the harsh way the shareholder described Rodgers.

This constituted a forceful endeavor at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For somebody who values propriety and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not outright secrecy, here was another illustration of how abnormal things have grown at the club.

Desmond, the club's dominant figure, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to take all the major decisions he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never attend club annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're glowing in nature. And still, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the club with private messages to media organisations, but no statement is made in the open.

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

The directive from the club is that he stepped down, but reviewing his invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he permit it to reach such a critical point?

If Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that the shareholder is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why had been the manager not removed?

He has charged him of distorting things in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unwarranted and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we speak.

His Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Model Again

To return to happier times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised Desmond at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan respected him and, truly, to nobody else.

It was Desmond who drew the heat when Rodgers' comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most divisive appointment, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had his back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the charm, delivered the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy truce with the fans became a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when his goals came in contact with Celtic's business model, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with added intensity, recently. He publicly commented about the sluggish way Celtic conducted their transfer business, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.

Repeatedly he spoke about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Even when the club splurged unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the costly Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with Idah since having departed - the manager pushed for more and more and, often, he did it in openly.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his subsequent news conference he would typically minimize it and almost reverse what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like he was playing a dangerous strategy.

A few months back there was a story in a publication that allegedly originated from a source close to the club. It said that the manager was damaging Celtic with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.

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

Supporters were enraged. They then viewed him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his directors did not support his plans to achieve 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 guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was losing the support of the people above him.

The regular {gripes