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Merely a quarter of an hour after the club released the news of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a brief short statement, the bombshell landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

In 551-words, major shareholder Desmond savaged his old chum.

The man he convinced to join the club when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and needed putting back in a box. Plus the figure he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of his critique, the jaw-dropping comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his departure from the organization, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering things he has expressed lately, O'Neill has been eager to get another job. He'll see this role as the ultimate opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the environment where he experienced such success and praise.

Would he relinquish it easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the most significant shocking development was the brutal manner Desmond wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a forceful attempt at character assassination, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the cost of others," stated he.

For somebody who prizes decorum and places great store in business being conducted with discretion, if not complete privacy, here was another illustration of how unusual things have become at the club.

Desmond, the club's most powerful presence, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the power to make all the major calls he wants without having the responsibility of explaining them in any open setting.

He does not participate in team annual meetings, dispatching his son, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the club with private missives to media organisations, but nothing is made in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The directive from the club is that he stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's invective, line by line, one must question why he allow it to reach this far down the line?

If Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that the shareholder is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the coach not removed?

Desmond has charged him of distorting things in public that did not tally with reality.

He claims Rodgers' words "have contributed to a toxic environment around the team and encouraged animosity towards members of the executive team and the board. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and improper."

Such an remarkable charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we speak.

'Rodgers' Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Model Once More'

Looking back to better times, they were close, the two men. The manager lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to him and, really, to no one other.

It was Desmond who took the criticism when Rodgers' returned happened, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Over time, the manager employed the persuasion, delivered the victories and the honors, and an fragile truce with the supporters became a affectionate relationship once more.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a point when his ambition clashed with the club's business model, however.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers publicly commented about the sluggish process the team conducted their transfer business, the endless waiting for prospects to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was concerned.

Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the market. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the organization splurged unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the £11m one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it to date, with Idah already having left - Rodgers demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He planted a bomb about a internal disunity within the club and then walked away. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next media briefing he would usually downplay it and nearly contradict what he said.

Internal issues? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It looked like he was engaging in a risky game.

Earlier this year there was a story in a newspaper that allegedly originated from a insider associated with the club. It claimed that Rodgers was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

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

The fans were enraged. They now saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his directors did not support his vision to achieve success.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

At that point it was clear the manager was losing the support of the people in charge.

The regular {gripes