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Merely fifteen minutes following the club issued the news of Brendan Rodgers' shock departure via a brief short statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent fury.

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

The man he persuaded to come to the club when their rivals were gaining ground in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. Plus the figure he again turned to after the previous manager departed to Tottenham in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after much of his recent life was dedicated to an unending series of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a while. Considering comments he has expressed lately, O'Neill has been keen to secure a new position. He will see this one as the perfect chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.

Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic could possibly reach out to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be parked because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the brutal way the shareholder described Rodgers.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a branding of him as untrustful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," stated he.

For a person who prizes decorum and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, here was a further example of how unusual situations have grown at the club.

The major figure, the organization's dominant figure, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the authority to make all the important decisions he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never participate in club AGMs, dispatching his son, Ross, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's slow to speak out.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to support the club with confidential messages to media organisations, but nothing is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to be. And it's exactly what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reading his criticism, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to get this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why had been the coach not dismissed?

Desmond has charged him of spinning things in public that were inconsistent with reality.

He says his words "played a part to a toxic environment around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the directors. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

What an extraordinary allegation, that is. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

His Aspirations Conflicted with Celtic's Model Once More'

Looking back to happier times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

It was Desmond who took the criticism when Rodgers' comeback occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

Desmond had his back. Over time, the manager employed the charm, achieved the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the fans became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his ambition clashed with Celtic's operational approach, though.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it happened again, with added intensity, over the last year. He spoke openly about the sluggish way Celtic went about their transfer business, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he called "agility" in the transfer window. The fans agreed with him.

Even when the club splurged record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the £11m one signing, the £9m another player and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well to date, with one since having departed - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, oftentimes, he did it in openly.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his comments at his next media briefing he would usually downplay it and nearly reverse what he stated.

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

Earlier this year there was a story in a publication that purportedly originated from a insider close to the organization. It said that the manager was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his exit, this was the tone of the story.

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

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

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

The frequent {gripes