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Merely a quarter of an hour after the club released the announcement of their manager's shock departure via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in obvious fury.

Through 551-words, major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

The man he convinced to come to the team when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. And the man he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the recent offseason.

So intense was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing return of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after much of his recent life was given over to an continuous series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a while. Based on things he has said recently, O'Neill has been keen to secure another job. He will view this role as the perfect opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such success and adulation.

Would he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a balm for the time being.

All-out Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' development was the brutal way the shareholder described Rodgers.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at defamation, a labeling of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of untruths, a disseminator of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For somebody who values decorum and places great store in business being done with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, this was a further example of how unusual situations have become at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's most powerful figure, operates in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to make all the important decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of justifying them in any public forum.

He never attend club AGMs, sending his offspring, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the organization with confidential missives to news outlets, but no statement is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And that's just what he went against when going all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The directive from the club is that he stepped down, but reading Desmond's criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get such a critical point?

If the manager is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the coach not removed?

Desmond has charged him of distorting information in public that did not tally with the facts.

He claims his statements "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the team and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the management and the board. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary charge, that is. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Aspirations Clashed with the Club's Strategy Once More'

To return to better times, they were tight, the two men. The manager praised the shareholder at every turn, thanked him every chance. Rodgers deferred to him and, really, to nobody else.

It was the figure who drew the heat when Rodgers' returned happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most controversial appointment, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

The shareholder had his support. Gradually, the manager turned on the persuasion, achieved the wins and the trophies, and an fragile peace with the fans turned into a love-in again.

There was always - always - going to be a point when his goals came in contact with Celtic's operational approach, however.

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the slow process the team went about their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was concerned.

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

Even when the organization spent unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly another player and the £6m further acquisition - all of whom have performed well so far, with Idah already having departed - Rodgers demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he did it in public.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion inside the club and then walked away. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would usually minimize it and almost contradict what he said.

Internal issues? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous strategy.

Earlier this year there was a story in a newspaper that purportedly came from a insider associated with the organization. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his public outbursts and that his true aim was orchestrating his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be present and he was engineering his exit, that was the implication of the article.

Supporters were enraged. They now viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his board members did not back his plans to achieve success.

This disclosure was damaging, of course, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it did. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a examination then we heard no more about it.

By then it was plain the manager was losing the support of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes