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Merely fifteen minutes following Celtic issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' surprising resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the howitzer landed, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

In an extensive statement, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he persuaded to come to the team when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and required being in their place. And the man he again turned to after the previous manager left for another club in the recent offseason.

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

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after much of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous circuit of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

Currently - and perhaps for a while. Considering comments he has said lately, O'Neill has been keen to get a new position. He will see this role as the ultimate opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.

Will he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well make a call to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be parked because the biggest shocking moment was the harsh way Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

It was a forceful endeavor at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the expense of everyone else," wrote he.

For a person who prizes decorum and sets high importance in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, here was a further example of how unusual things have become at the club.

Desmond, the organization's dominant presence, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the one with the power to make all the major decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of justifying them in any public forum.

He never participate in team annual meetings, sending his offspring, Ross, instead. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's slow to speak out.

He has been known on an occasion or two to support the organization with confidential missives to news outlets, but nothing is made in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And that's exactly what he went against when going full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The directive from the team is that he resigned, but reviewing Desmond's invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he permit it to reach this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of every one of the things that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to inquire why had been the manager not removed?

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

He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a hostile environment around the club and fuelled animosity towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

Such an remarkable charge, indeed. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Again

To return to happier times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers respected him and, really, to no one other.

This was the figure who took the criticism when Rodgers' comeback happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most controversial hiring, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

The shareholder had Rodgers' back. Over time, the manager employed the charm, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an fragile peace with the supporters became a love-in once more.

There was always - consistently - going to be a moment when Rodgers' ambition came in contact with the club's business model, however.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. Rodgers publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the endless delay for prospects 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 "flexibility" in the transfer window. Supporters concurred with him.

Even when the club spent unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the £9m another player and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have performed well so far, with Idah since having departed - the manager demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in public.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would typically minimize it and nearly reverse what he stated.

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

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a insider close to the club. It said that the manager was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

He desired not to be present and he was arranging his way out, that was the tone of the article.

The fans were angered. They now saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his directors wouldn't support his plans to bring success.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He called for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a examination then we learned no more about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the people in charge.

The frequent {gripes