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Just fifteen minutes following the club issued the news of their manager's surprising departure via a brief five-paragraph communication, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

In an extensive statement, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he convinced to join the club when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and required being in their place. Plus the figure he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the recent offseason.

So intense was the ferocity of his takedown, the astonishing return of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after a large part of his recent life was given over to an continuous circuit of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a while. Based on things he has expressed lately, he has been eager to get another job. He will see this role as the perfect opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the place where he enjoyed such success and adulation.

Would he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly make a call to sound out Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the biggest shocking moment was the harsh manner Desmond described the former manager.

This constituted a forceful attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the expense of others," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes decorum and sets high importance in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not outright privacy, here was another illustration of how abnormal things have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the club's most powerful presence, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to take all the major calls he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any public forum.

He never participate in team annual meetings, sending his son, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

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

This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And that's just what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why he permit it to reach this far down the line?

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

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

He says his statements "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the club and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the management and the board. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

Such an remarkable allegation, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Aspirations Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to happier days, they were close, the two men. Rodgers praised Desmond at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to him and, really, to nobody else.

It was the figure who took the heat when Rodgers' comeback happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most divisive hiring, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had his back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, achieved the wins and the honors, and an fragile peace with the supporters became a affectionate relationship again.

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

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with added intensity, recently. He spoke openly about the slow way Celtic conducted their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be landed, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

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

Despite the club spent unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the costly Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with one since having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in public.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion inside the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his next media briefing he would typically minimize it and nearly contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It appeared like he was engaging in a risky game.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that allegedly came from a source associated with the organization. It claimed that Rodgers was harming the team with his public outbursts 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 article.

The fans were enraged. They now saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his board members wouldn't back his vision to achieve triumph.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to hurt him, which it did. He demanded for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

By then it was plain the manager was losing the backing of the people in charge.

The regular {gripes