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Just a quarter of an hour following the club released the news of Brendan Rodgers' surprising resignation via a perfunctory short statement, the howitzer landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious anger.

Through 551-words, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

This individual he convinced to come to the team when their rivals were gaining ground in 2016 and needed putting in their place. Plus the man he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his recent life was given over to an continuous series of appearances and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Considering things he has said lately, O'Neill has been eager to secure another job. He'll view this one as the ultimate chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.

Would he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly make a call to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Effort at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it is - can be parked because the biggest shocking development was the brutal way Desmond described the former manager.

It was a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a labeling of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For somebody who values propriety and sets high importance in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not outright privacy, this was a further example of how unusual things have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's dominant figure, operates in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the power to take all the major decisions he pleases without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not participate in team AGMs, dispatching his son, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to support the organization with confidential missives to news outlets, but nothing is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And it's just what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear 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 allow it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why had been the coach not removed?

Desmond has accused him of spinning information in public that did not tally with reality.

He says Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the board. A portion of the criticism aimed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

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

'Rodgers' Aspirations Clashed with the Club's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to happier times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan respected him and, truly, to no one other.

This was the figure who drew the criticism when Rodgers' returned occurred, after the previous manager.

It was the most divisive hiring, the return of the returning hero for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have put it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for another club.

The shareholder had his support. Over time, the manager turned on the persuasion, achieved the wins and the trophies, and an fragile truce with the fans became a affectionate relationship again.

There was always - always - going to be a moment when his ambition clashed with the club's business model, though.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with added intensity, over the last year. He spoke openly about the slow process the team conducted their transfer business, the interminable delay for prospects to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

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

Despite the organization spent unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the costly another player and the £6m further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with one since having left - the manager demanded more and more and, often, he expressed this in public.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his next media briefing he would typically downplay it and almost contradict what he said.

Internal issues? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a dangerous strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly originated from a source associated with the organization. It claimed that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be there and he was engineering his exit, this was the implication of the article.

The fans were enraged. They now saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his board members did not back his vision to bring success.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to harm him, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

By then it was clear the manager was shedding the support of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes