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Just fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of their manager's surprising resignation via a perfunctory short communication, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.

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

This individual he persuaded to come to the club when their rivals were gaining ground in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. And the figure he again relied on after the previous manager left for another club in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of his takedown, the jaw-dropping return of Martin O'Neill was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the club, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending series of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a time. Based on things he has said lately, he has been eager to get another job. He'll view this role as the perfect opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such glory and praise.

Will he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well make a call to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the brutal manner the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at defamation, a branding of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," stated he.

For a person who prizes propriety and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with discretion, if not outright privacy, this was a further example of how unusual things have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's dominant figure, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to take all the important decisions he pleases without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not participate in team AGMs, sending his son, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's reluctant to communicate.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the organization with private messages to media organisations, but no statement is made in public.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to remain. And it's exactly what he went against when launching all-out attack on the manager on that day.

The official line from the club is that he resigned, but reading his criticism, line by line, one must question why he permit it to get this far down the line?

If Rodgers is guilty of all of the accusations that Desmond is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why had been the manager not dismissed?

Desmond has accused him of spinning things in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says his words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the directors. Some of the criticism aimed 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 Ambition Clashed with the Club's Strategy Once More'

To return to better days, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised Desmond at every turn, thanked him every chance. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, really, to no one other.

It was the figure who took the criticism when his returned occurred, after the previous manager.

This marked the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had his support. Over time, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an fragile peace with the fans turned into a love-in once more.

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

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with added intensity, recently. He spoke openly about the slow process the team went about their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was concerned.

Repeatedly he spoke about the necessity for what he called "agility" in the market. The fans concurred with him.

Even when the organization splurged record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well to date, with Idah already having left - the manager pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his next media briefing he would typically downplay it and nearly contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It appeared like he was playing a dangerous game.

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source 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 didn't want to be there and he was arranging his way out, this was the tone of the story.

The fans were enraged. They then saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his board members did not support his vision to bring triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, of course, and it was intended to harm Rodgers, which it did. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

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

The frequent {gripes