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Just a quarter of an hour following Celtic released the news of Brendan Rodgers' surprising resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the bombshell landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

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

The man he persuaded to join the team when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and needed putting in their place. And the figure he again relied on after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

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

Twenty years after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an continuous circuit of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a time. Based on comments he has expressed lately, he has been eager to get a new position. He'll see this one as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the club's legacy, a return to the environment where he experienced such success and praise.

Would he relinquish it easily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club could possibly make a call to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the biggest shocking development was the brutal way Desmond described the former manager.

It was a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a labeling of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For somebody who prizes propriety and places great store in business being conducted with discretion, if not outright privacy, here was a further example of how unusual things have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's dominant presence, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to make all the important calls he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never attend team annual meetings, sending his son, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the club with confidential missives to news outlets, but no statement is made in public.

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

The directive from the club is that he stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's invective, carefully, you have to wonder why he permit it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of all of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why had been the manager not dismissed?

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

He claims Rodgers' words "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the club and fuelled animosity towards members of the executive team and the directors. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

What an remarkable charge, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

His Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Model Once More'

To return to better days, they were close, the two men. Rodgers lauded Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.

It was Desmond who took the heat when his comeback occurred, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most controversial hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Gradually, Rodgers employed the persuasion, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy truce with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

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

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired once more, with added intensity, over the last year. Rodgers publicly commented about the sluggish way Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was too often the case as far as he was believed.

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

Even when the club splurged record amounts of money in a calendar year on the expensive Arne Engels, the costly another player and the £6m Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it to date, with one already having departed - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, often, he expressed this in public.

He planted a bomb about a internal disunity inside the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his next news conference he would usually downplay it and almost contradict what he said.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd say. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous game.

Earlier this year there was a story in a publication that purportedly originated from a insider close to the club. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was orchestrating his exit strategy.

He desired not to be present and he was engineering his exit, this was the implication of the article.

The fans were angered. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his board members did not back his vision to bring success.

This disclosure was damaging, of course, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

At that point it was plain Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals above him.

The regular {gripes