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Merely fifteen minutes following Celtic released the announcement of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph communication, the howitzer arrived, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

Through an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he persuaded to join the club when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and required being in their place. Plus the man he once more relied on after the previous manager left for another club in the recent offseason.

So intense was the ferocity of his critique, the jaw-dropping return of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after much of his recent life was dedicated to an continuous circuit of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

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

Would he relinquish it easily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well make a call to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the biggest shocking development was the harsh way Desmond described Rodgers.

It was a forceful endeavor at defamation, a branding of him as deceitful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes propriety and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not outright privacy, this was another illustration of how abnormal things have become at the club.

The major figure, the club's most powerful presence, moves in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to take all the important decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He never attend club annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the organization with private messages to media organisations, but no statement is made in the open.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And it's exactly what he contradicted when going full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why he allow it to get this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of all of the accusations that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to ask why was the manager not dismissed?

He has accused him of distorting things in open forums that were inconsistent with reality.

He says Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the criticism directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

Such an remarkable charge, indeed. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

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

Looking back to happier days, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised the shareholder at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan respected him and, truly, to nobody else.

This was Desmond who drew the heat when Rodgers' comeback occurred, after the previous manager.

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

The shareholder had his back. Over time, Rodgers employed the persuasion, delivered the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the supporters became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a moment when his ambition came in contact with the club's business model, though.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with added intensity, over the last year. He publicly commented about the slow process the team went about their player acquisitions, the endless delay for prospects to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Time and again he stated about the need for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. Supporters agreed with him.

Even when the organization spent unprecedented sums of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with Idah already having left - the manager demanded 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. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would usually minimize it and almost contradict what he stated.

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

Earlier this year there was a story in a publication that purportedly came from a source associated with the club. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be present and he was engineering his way out, this was the implication of the story.

Supporters were enraged. They now viewed him as similar to a martyr who might be removed on his honor because his board members wouldn't back his vision to achieve success.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual 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 frequent {gripes