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Just fifteen minutes after the club issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' surprising departure via a brief short statement, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent anger.

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

The man he convinced to come to the club when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and needed putting back in a box. Plus the figure he again relied on after the previous manager left for another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the severity of his critique, the astonishing return of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an unending circuit of appearances and the playing of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a time. Based on things he has said lately, he has been keen to get another job. He'll see this one as the perfect chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Would he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well make a call to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the harsh way Desmond wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who values decorum and sets high importance in business being done with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, this was a further illustration of how abnormal things have become at the club.

Desmond, the club's dominant figure, moves in the background. The remote leader, the one with the authority to make all the major calls he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

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

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the organization with private missives to news outlets, but no statement is heard in public.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And it's just what he contradicted when going all-out attack on Rodgers on that day.

The directive from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing his invective, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to reach this far down the line?

If the manager is culpable of all of the things that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it's fair to ask why had been the coach not dismissed?

Desmond has charged him of spinning information in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says Rodgers' statements "played a part to a hostile environment around the club and fuelled animosity towards members of the management and the board. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and unacceptable."

What an extraordinary charge, that is. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we discuss.

His Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to happier times, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers respected Dermot and, really, to no one other.

It was the figure who drew the heat when his returned happened, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial hiring, the return of the returning hero for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had his back. Gradually, the manager turned on the persuasion, delivered the victories and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the supporters turned into a love-in once more.

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

It happened in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with bells on, recently. He spoke openly about the sluggish process the team conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

Time and again he spoke about the necessity for what he termed "flexibility" in the transfer window. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the club spent unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well to date, with Idah already having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, often, he did it in public.

He set a bomb about a internal disunity inside the team and then walked away. Upon questioning about his comments at his subsequent news conference he would usually downplay it and nearly reverse what he said.

Internal issues? No, no, all are united, he'd say. It looked like Rodgers was playing a dangerous game.

A few months back there was a story in a publication that purportedly came from a source associated with the club. It said that Rodgers was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

He desired not to be present and he was arranging his exit, this was the tone of the story.

Supporters were enraged. They then viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his directors wouldn't support his plans to achieve success.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He called for an investigation and for the guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we learned no more about it.

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

The regular {gripes