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Just a quarter of an hour after the club issued the news of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a perfunctory short communication, the bombshell landed, from Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious fury.

In an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond savaged his former ally.

The man he persuaded to join the team when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting in their place. Plus the man he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the ferocity of his takedown, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was practically an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a time. Based on things he has expressed recently, he has been eager to get another job. He'll view this role as the perfect opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such glory and praise.

Will he relinquish it easily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club might well make a call to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' development was the harsh way Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a labeling of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," wrote he.

For somebody who values propriety and places great store in business being done with discretion, if not outright secrecy, here was another example of how unusual situations have become at Celtic.

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

He does not participate in team annual meetings, sending his son, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to defend the club with private missives to news outlets, but nothing is heard in public.

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

The directive from the team is that he resigned, but reading his criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get such a critical point?

If Rodgers is guilty of all of the things that Desmond is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why had been the coach not dismissed?

Desmond has charged him of distorting information in public that were inconsistent with reality.

He claims his statements "played a part to a toxic environment around the club and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the management and the directors. A portion of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

What an remarkable charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we speak.

'Rodgers' Ambition Clashed with the Club's Model Once More'

Looking back to happier days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised the shareholder at every turn, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan respected him and, really, to no one other.

This was the figure who took the criticism when Rodgers' comeback occurred, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most controversial appointment, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as other supporters would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' support. Over time, the manager employed the persuasion, delivered the wins and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the fans became a love-in again.

There was always - always - going to be a point when his goals clashed with Celtic's operational approach, however.

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish way the team went about their transfer business, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then missed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the necessity for what he termed "flexibility" in the market. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the organization splurged unprecedented sums of funds in a calendar year on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have performed well so far, with Idah since having departed - the manager demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion inside the club and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next news conference he would usually downplay it and almost contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, all are united, he'd say. It appeared like he was playing a risky strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a insider close to the club. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his way out, that was the tone of the story.

The fans were enraged. They then viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his directors did not back his plans to bring success.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it did. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a examination then we learned no more about it.

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

The frequent {gripes