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Just fifteen minutes following Celtic released the announcement of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph communication, the bombshell landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in apparent anger.

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

This individual he persuaded to come to the team when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and required being back in a box. Plus the man he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of his critique, the jaw-dropping comeback of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his departure from the club, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending circuit of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a while. Considering comments he has said lately, O'Neill has been eager to secure a new position. He will view this one as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he enjoyed such success and adulation.

Will he relinquish it readily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club might well make a call to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - however strange as it is - can be parked because the biggest 'wow!' development was the brutal manner Desmond described the former manager.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the expense of others," stated he.

For somebody who values decorum and places great store in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not complete privacy, this was a further example of how unusual situations have become at the club.

Desmond, the organization's dominant figure, operates in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the authority to take all the major decisions he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not attend club AGMs, dispatching his offspring, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the club with confidential missives to news outlets, but nothing is made in public.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to be. And it's just what he went against when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.

The official line from the team is that he stepped down, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why did he permit it to get such a critical point?

If Rodgers is guilty of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is alleging he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why was the coach not dismissed?

He has accused him of spinning things in public that did not tally with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' words "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and improper."

Such an remarkable allegation, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

His Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Model Again

To return to happier days, they were close, the two men. The manager lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him every chance. Rodgers deferred to him and, really, to no one other.

This was Desmond who took the heat when his returned happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most controversial hiring, the return of the returning hero for some supporters or, as other supporters would have put it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the difficulty for Leicester.

The shareholder had his support. Gradually, Rodgers employed the persuasion, delivered the wins and the honors, and an fragile peace with the fans became a love-in again.

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

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish way the team conducted their transfer business, the endless waiting for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the club splurged unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the costly another player and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with one since having departed - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, often, he did it in public.

He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion within the club and then walked away. Upon questioning about his comments at his subsequent news conference he would usually downplay it and nearly contradict what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a risky game.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a insider close to the organization. It claimed that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

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

The fans were angered. They then viewed him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his directors did not support his vision to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was intended to harm Rodgers, which it did. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a examination then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals in charge.

The regular {gripes