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Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of their manager's shock resignation via a brief short statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

In an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond savaged his former ally.

This individual he persuaded to come to the team when their rivals were gaining ground in 2016 and required being back in a box. And the man he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's critique, the jaw-dropping return of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after much of his recent life was dedicated to an unending series of appearances and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a while. Based on comments he has expressed recently, he has been keen to secure another job. He will view this role as the ultimate chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he experienced such success and praise.

Will he relinquish it easily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well reach out to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will serve as a balm for the moment.

All-out Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - however strange as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the brutal way Desmond described the former manager.

This constituted a forceful endeavor at defamation, a labeling of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who values decorum and places great store in business being done with discretion, if not outright privacy, this was a further example of how abnormal situations have grown at the club.

Desmond, the organization's most powerful presence, moves in the background. The remote leader, the one with the power to make all the important calls he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He never attend team AGMs, sending his son, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, does interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the club with confidential missives to media organisations, but no statement is made in the open.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And that's just what he went against when launching full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

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

Assuming the manager is guilty of all of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why had been the manager not removed?

Desmond has accused him of spinning things in open forums that did not tally with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

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

His Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Again

Looking back to better days, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan respected him and, truly, to no one other.

This was Desmond who drew the criticism when Rodgers' comeback happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most divisive hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as other supporters would have put it, the arrival of the shameless one, who departed in the lurch for Leicester.

The shareholder had his back. Over time, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

There was always - consistently - going to be a point when Rodgers' ambition clashed with the club's business model, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired once more, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic conducted their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the need for what he termed "flexibility" in the market. The fans agreed with him.

Even when the organization splurged unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with one already having left - the manager pushed for more and more and, often, he expressed this in openly.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the club and then walked away. Upon questioning about his comments at his next media briefing he would usually downplay it and almost reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like he was engaging in a risky game.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a insider close to the organization. It claimed that the manager was damaging the team with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

He desired not to be present and he was engineering his way out, that was the implication of the story.

The fans were angered. They then saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his board members wouldn't support his plans to bring triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, naturally, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

By then it was clear the manager was losing the support of the individuals in charge.

The regular {gripes