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Merely fifteen minutes following Celtic released the announcement of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph communication, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

Through 551-words, major shareholder Dermot Desmond savaged his former ally.

This individual he convinced to join the club when Rangers were gaining ground in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. And the man he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the recent offseason.

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

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after much of his latter years was given over to an continuous series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a time. Considering comments he has said lately, O'Neill has been eager to get a new position. He will see this role as the perfect chance, a present from the club's legacy, a return to the environment where he experienced such glory and adulation.

Will he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic could possibly reach out to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it may be - can be parked because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the brutal way Desmond described the former manager.

It was a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a branding of him as deceitful, a source of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the expense of others," stated Desmond.

For a person who values decorum and sets high importance in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not outright privacy, this was another example of how abnormal things have grown at the club.

The major figure, the club's most powerful figure, moves in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to make all the major decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not attend club annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the organization with confidential missives to media organisations, but no statement is heard in public.

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

The official line from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he permit it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming the manager is guilty of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to ask why was the manager not dismissed?

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

He claims his statements "played a part to a hostile atmosphere around the team and encouraged hostility towards members of the executive team and the board. A portion of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

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

'Rodgers' Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Model Again

To return to better days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to him and, really, to nobody else.

This was the figure who took the heat when Rodgers' comeback occurred, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most divisive hiring, the return of the returning hero for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

The shareholder had Rodgers' back. Gradually, the manager employed the charm, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an fragile peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship again.

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

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired once more, with added intensity, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the slow way Celtic conducted their transfer business, the endless delay for prospects to be landed, then not landed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

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

Even when the club spent unprecedented sums of funds in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the costly another player and the significant Auston Trusty - 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 openly.

He planted a bomb about a internal disunity inside the team and then walked away. When asked about his comments at his next media briefing he would typically downplay it and nearly reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous game.

Earlier this year there was a story in a publication that allegedly originated from a source associated with the club. It said that Rodgers was damaging the team with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He desired not to be present and he was arranging his exit, that was the tone of the story.

The fans were angered. They then saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his directors did not support his vision to bring success.

The leak was poisonous, naturally, and it was meant to hurt him, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be dismissed. If there was a examination then we learned no more about it.

At that point it was clear the manager was shedding the support of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes