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Merely a quarter of an hour following Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's surprising resignation via a perfunctory short communication, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

Through an extensive statement, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

This individual he convinced to join the club when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting in their place. Plus the man he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

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

Twenty years after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his recent life was given over to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Considering comments he has said lately, O'Neill has been keen to get a new position. He will see this one as the ultimate chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he experienced such success and adulation.

Will he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic could possibly reach out to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's return - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the biggest shocking moment was the brutal manner Desmond described the former manager.

It was a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a labeling of him as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," stated he.

For somebody who values propriety and sets high importance in dealings being done with discretion, if not complete secrecy, here was another illustration of how unusual things have become at the club.

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

He does not participate in club annual meetings, dispatching his son, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, does interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And still, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the organization with confidential messages to news outlets, but no statement is made in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he contradicted when going full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reading Desmond's invective, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of all of the accusations that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it's fair to ask why was the manager not removed?

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

He claims Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a hostile environment around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

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

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

Looking back to happier days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised Desmond at all opportunities, thanked him every chance. Brendan deferred to him and, really, to nobody else.

It was Desmond who drew the criticism when his returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the returning hero for some supporters or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

The shareholder had Rodgers' back. Gradually, the manager turned on the persuasion, delivered the wins and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the supporters turned into a love-in again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when his ambition clashed with Celtic's business model, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with bells on, over the last year. He spoke openly about the sluggish way the team conducted their transfer business, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he termed "agility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Even when the club splurged record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the costly another player and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with Idah since having left - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would usually minimize it and nearly contradict what he stated.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like he was playing a risky game.

Earlier this year there was a story in a newspaper that allegedly originated from a insider close to the organization. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his public outbursts 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 implication of the story.

The fans were enraged. They now saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his directors did not support his plans to bring success.

The leak was damaging, of course, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. If there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

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

The regular {gripes