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Just a quarter of an hour after Celtic released the announcement of their manager's surprising departure via a perfunctory short statement, the bombshell arrived, from Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious anger.

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

The man he persuaded to join the club when Rangers were gaining ground in that period and needed putting in their place. And the figure he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the recent offseason.

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

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 old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Considering comments he has expressed recently, he has been keen to get a new position. He will view 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 give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club could possibly reach out to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Effort at Character Assassination

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the most significant shocking development was the harsh manner the shareholder described the former manager.

It was a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; divisive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the cost of others," wrote he.

For somebody who values decorum and places great store in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, this was a further example of how unusual situations have grown at the club.

The major figure, the club's most powerful figure, operates in the background. The remote leader, the one with the power to make all the major calls he pleases without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not participate in club annual meetings, dispatching 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 reluctant to communicate.

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

It's exactly how he's wanted it to remain. And it's exactly what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on the manager on that day.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, carefully, one must question why he permit it to get such a critical point?

Assuming the manager is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to ask why was the manager not dismissed?

Desmond has accused him of distorting things in public that were inconsistent with reality.

He says his statements "played a part to a toxic environment around the club and encouraged hostility towards members of the management and the board. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

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

His Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Model Again

Looking back to happier times, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised Desmond at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to him and, really, to nobody else.

It was the figure who took the heat when Rodgers' returned happened, post-Postecoglou.

This marked 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 departed in the lurch for another club.

Desmond had his support. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the charm, delivered the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy truce with the supporters became a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a point when Rodgers' ambition came in contact with Celtic's operational approach, though.

It happened in his initial tenure and it happened again, with added intensity, recently. He publicly commented about the sluggish process the team went about their player acquisitions, the endless delay for prospects to be landed, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Time and again he spoke about the necessity for what he called "agility" in the market. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the club spent unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have cut it so far, with one since having left - the manager pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he did it in public.

He planted a controversy about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his comments at his next news conference he would usually minimize it and nearly contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? 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 allegedly came from a source close to the club. It claimed that the manager was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.

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

The fans were enraged. They now viewed him as similar to a martyr who might be removed on his honor because his directors did not support his plans to achieve triumph.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to hurt him, which it did. He demanded for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a examination then we learned no more about it.

At that point it was plain Rodgers was losing the backing of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes