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Merely a quarter of an hour after Celtic issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a brief short communication, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent fury.

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

This individual he convinced to join the team when their rivals were gaining ground in 2016 and required being in their place. And the figure he again relied on after the previous manager departed to Tottenham in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of his critique, the jaw-dropping return of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his recent life was given over to an continuous circuit of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at the team, O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

Currently - and maybe for a while. Based on comments he has said recently, O'Neill has been keen to secure a new position. He will see this role as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.

Would he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly make a call to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the biggest shocking development was the harsh way Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

It was a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the expense of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For a person who prizes propriety and places great store in business being done with discretion, if not complete privacy, here was a further illustration of how abnormal things have grown at the club.

The major figure, the club's most powerful figure, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the power to take all the major decisions he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any public forum.

He never participate in club AGMs, sending his offspring, Ross, instead. He seldom, if ever, does interviews about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's slow to speak out.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the club with private messages to media organisations, but nothing is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And that's exactly what he contradicted when going full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why he permit it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of all of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why was the coach not removed?

He has charged him of distorting information in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' statements "played a part to a hostile environment around the team and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the executive team and the board. A portion of the criticism directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

What an extraordinary charge, indeed. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we discuss.

His Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

To return to better days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager lauded Desmond at every turn, thanked him every chance. Rodgers deferred to him and, truly, to nobody else.

It was the figure who drew the criticism when Rodgers' comeback occurred, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most divisive appointment, the return of the returning hero for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the difficulty for Leicester.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Over time, the manager employed the persuasion, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an fragile truce 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 business model, however.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. He publicly commented about the sluggish process the team went about their transfer business, the endless waiting for prospects to be secured, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

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

Even when the club splurged record amounts of money in a calendar year on the £11m one signing, the £9m another player and the £6m further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with one already having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, often, he did it in openly.

He planted a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then walked away. When asked about his comments at his next news conference he would typically minimize it and nearly contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, all are united, he'd say. It looked like he was playing a dangerous game.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source close to the organization. It said that the manager was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his true aim was managing his departure plan.

He desired not to be there and he was arranging his exit, that was the implication of the article.

Supporters were angered. They then viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his directors did not back his plans to bring triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to hurt him, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

By then it was clear the manager was shedding the backing of the people in charge.

The frequent {gripes