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Just fifteen minutes following the club released the news of their manager's shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the howitzer landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

Through an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond savaged his old chum.

This individual he convinced to come to the club when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and required being in their place. Plus the man he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the jaw-dropping return of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Considering comments he has said recently, he has been eager to secure another job. He will see this one as the perfect opportunity, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Would he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it may be - can be parked because the most significant shocking development was the brutal way Desmond wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a labeling of him as deceitful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-interest at the expense of others," stated he.

For a person who values propriety and sets high importance in business being done with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, here was a further example of how abnormal situations have become at Celtic.

Desmond, the club's dominant figure, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to take all the important calls he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never participate in club annual meetings, sending his offspring, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in nature. And still, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to support the club with confidential missives to media organisations, but nothing is made in public.

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

The directive from the team is that he resigned, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why did he permit it to reach this far down the line?

Assuming the manager is guilty of all of the things that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it's fair to ask why had been the coach not dismissed?

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

He says his words "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

Such an remarkable allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be mobilising as we speak.

His Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Model Again

Looking back to better times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Rodgers respected Dermot and, really, to no one other.

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

This marked the most divisive hiring, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had his support. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an fragile truce with the supporters became a affectionate relationship once more.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a point when Rodgers' goals clashed with Celtic's operational approach, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with added intensity, over the last year. Rodgers publicly commented about the slow process Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the need for what he termed "agility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Even when the organization spent record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the £11m one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well so far, with one already having departed - the manager pushed for more and more and, often, he expressed this in public.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity inside the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his comments at his next news conference he would usually minimize it and nearly reverse what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It looked like Rodgers was playing a dangerous strategy.

A few months back there was a story in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source associated with the club. It claimed that Rodgers was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

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

The fans were angered. They now viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his board members did not support his plans to achieve triumph.

The leak was damaging, of course, and it was meant to hurt him, which it did. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. If there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

At that point it was clear the manager was losing the backing of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes