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Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of their manager's surprising departure via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the howitzer landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

Through an extensive statement, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he convinced to come to the team when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and needed putting in their place. Plus the man he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

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

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his recent life was dedicated to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Based on things he has said recently, O'Neill has been keen to get a new position. He'll view this one as the perfect chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he enjoyed such success and adulation.

Will he relinquish it readily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club might well make a call to sound out Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the brutal manner Desmond described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of him as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," stated he.

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

Desmond, the club's dominant figure, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to make all the major calls he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not participate in club AGMs, sending his offspring, his son, instead. He rarely, if ever, does interviews about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in nature. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

There have been instances on an rare moment to defend the club with confidential missives to media organisations, but nothing is heard in the open.

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

The directive from the club is that he stepped down, but reviewing his invective, carefully, you have to wonder why he permit it to get such a critical point?

If the manager is culpable of every one of the accusations that Desmond is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to ask why had been the manager not removed?

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

He claims Rodgers' statements "have contributed to a toxic environment around the team and fuelled animosity towards members of the executive team and the board. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

What an remarkable allegation, that is. Lawyers might be preparing as we speak.

'Rodgers' Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Strategy Again

Looking back to better days, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers lauded Desmond at every turn, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan respected Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

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

This marked the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Over time, the manager employed the persuasion, achieved the wins and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a moment when Rodgers' ambition came in contact with Celtic's business model, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened again, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish way the team conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for prospects to be landed, then not landed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the need for what he called "flexibility" in the transfer window. Supporters agreed with him.

Even when the club splurged record amounts of money in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have cut it to date, with Idah since having departed - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity within the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would typically downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

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

A few months back there was a story in a publication that allegedly originated from a insider associated with the organization. It said that Rodgers was damaging the team with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.

He didn't want to be there and he was engineering his exit, that was the tone of the story.

Supporters were angered. They now saw him as similar to a martyr who might be removed on his shield because his directors did not support his plans to achieve triumph.

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

By then it was clear Rodgers was shedding the support of the people above him.

The regular {gripes