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Just fifteen minutes after the club released the announcement of their manager's surprising departure via a brief short communication, the howitzer landed, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

Through 551-words, key investor Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he convinced to join the club when Rangers were gaining ground in that period and needed putting in their place. And the man he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

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

Two decades after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an unending series of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a while. Considering comments he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been eager to secure another job. He'll view this role as the perfect chance, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such success and praise.

Will he relinquish it easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic could possibly make a call to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - however strange as it may be - can be parked because the most significant shocking development was the brutal way the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at defamation, a branding of him as untrustful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the expense of others," wrote he.

For somebody who prizes decorum and places great store in dealings being done with discretion, if not complete privacy, this was another illustration of how abnormal situations have become at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to make all the important calls he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He never attend team AGMs, sending his son, his son, in his place. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the organization with confidential missives to news outlets, but no statement is made in public.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to remain. And it's exactly what he contradicted when going full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the club is that he stepped down, but reading his invective, carefully, you have to wonder why he allow it to reach this far down the line?

If the manager is culpable of all of the things that the shareholder is alleging he's guilty of, then it's fair to ask why was the coach not removed?

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

He claims Rodgers' words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the club and encouraged hostility towards individuals of the management and the board. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

Such an remarkable charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we speak.

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

Looking back to better times, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers respected him and, really, to nobody else.

This was the figure who took the criticism when his returned occurred, after the previous manager.

It was the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

Desmond had his support. Over time, the manager employed the persuasion, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy truce with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship again.

There was always - consistently - going to be a point when his goals came in contact with Celtic's operational approach, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with added intensity, recently. He publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the market. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the club spent record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have performed well so far, with one since having left - the manager demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in openly.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would typically downplay it and almost contradict what he said.

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

A few months back there was a story in a publication that purportedly originated from a insider close to the club. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

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

The fans were enraged. They then viewed him as akin to a martyr who might be removed on his honor because his directors wouldn't back his plans to achieve success.

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

At that point it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the people above him.

The regular {gripes