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Just a quarter of an hour following Celtic released the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock departure via a perfunctory short statement, the bombshell landed, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

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

The man he persuaded to join the club when Rangers were gaining ground in that period and required being back in a box. Plus the figure he again turned to after the previous manager left for another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the severity of his takedown, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after much of his latter years was dedicated to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at the team, O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a while. Considering things he has expressed lately, he has been eager to get a new position. He will view this one as the ultimate opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well make a call to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the brutal way Desmond described Rodgers.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the cost of others," stated Desmond.

For a person who values decorum and sets high importance in business being done with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, here was a further example of how unusual things have become at Celtic.

The major figure, the club's most powerful presence, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the one with the power to take all the important calls he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not attend club annual meetings, dispatching his son, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's slow to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to support the club with confidential missives to news outlets, but no statement is heard in public.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he went against when going full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing his criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why he allow it to get such a critical point?

Assuming the manager is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why had been the manager not removed?

Desmond has accused him of distorting things in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a hostile environment around the club and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the management and the directors. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary charge, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Ambition Conflicted with the Club's Model Again

Looking back to happier times, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers lauded Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers respected him and, truly, to no one other.

It was Desmond who drew the criticism when his comeback happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most controversial hiring, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had his support. Gradually, the manager employed the persuasion, delivered the wins and the honors, and an fragile truce with the supporters became a affectionate relationship once more.

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

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened again, with added intensity, over the last year. He publicly commented about the slow process the team went about their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he termed "flexibility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Even when the club splurged unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have performed well so far, with one since having left - the manager pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in openly.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity within the team and then walked away. Upon questioning about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would typically minimize it and almost contradict what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like he was engaging in a dangerous strategy.

A few months back there was a story in a publication that purportedly originated from a insider associated with the organization. It said that Rodgers was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.

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

Supporters were enraged. They then saw him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his directors wouldn't back his vision to achieve success.

This disclosure was poisonous, naturally, and it was meant to hurt him, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. Whether there was a examination then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was plain the manager was losing the support of the people above him.

The regular {gripes