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Just a quarter of an hour after the club released the news of their manager's surprising departure via a brief short communication, the howitzer landed, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

Through 551-words, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he persuaded to come to the club when Rangers were gaining ground in that period and required being in their place. Plus the man he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the severity of his takedown, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the organization, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending series of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Based on comments he has expressed lately, O'Neill has been eager to get another job. He will view this one as the ultimate chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the environment where he experienced such glory and praise.

Will he give it up easily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic could possibly reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' development was the harsh way the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For a person who prizes propriety and places great store in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not complete secrecy, this was another example of how unusual things have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's dominant figure, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the authority to take all the major decisions he wants without having the obligation of justifying them in any public forum.

He never attend club AGMs, dispatching his son, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's slow to communicate.

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

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And it's exactly what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing his criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why did he permit it to get this far down the line?

Assuming the manager 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?

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

He claims Rodgers' statements "played a part to a hostile atmosphere around the club and fuelled animosity towards members of the management and the board. A portion of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

Such an remarkable charge, that is. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we speak.

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

To return to better days, they were close, the two men. Rodgers praised Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Rodgers respected Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

This was the figure who took the heat when Rodgers' returned occurred, after the previous manager.

It was the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had his back. Gradually, the manager turned on the charm, achieved the wins and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the supporters became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a moment when Rodgers' ambition came in contact with Celtic's business model, however.

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

Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he called "agility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly another player and the significant Auston Trusty - none of whom have cut it so far, with Idah since having left - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, often, he expressed this in openly.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would typically minimize it and almost reverse what he said.

Internal issues? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a risky strategy.

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

He didn't want to be present and he was engineering his way out, this was the implication of the article.

Supporters were angered. They then viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his directors wouldn't support his plans to achieve triumph.

The leak was poisonous, naturally, and it was meant to hurt him, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we heard no more about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was losing the backing of the individuals in charge.

The regular {gripes