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Just fifteen minutes following the club issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock departure via a brief short statement, the howitzer landed, from the major shareholder, with clear signs in obvious anger.

In 551-words, major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

This individual he convinced to come to the team when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and required being back in a box. And the figure he once more turned to after the previous manager departed to another club in the recent offseason.

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

Twenty years after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his old hits at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Considering things he has said recently, he has been eager to get a new position. He will view this role as the ultimate chance, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such success and adulation.

Will he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic could possibly make a call to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's return - as surreal as it may be - can be parked because the most significant shocking moment was the brutal way the shareholder described Rodgers.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a branding of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For a person who prizes propriety and sets high importance in business being conducted with discretion, if not outright privacy, here was a further illustration of how unusual things have become at the club.

The major figure, the club's dominant presence, moves in the background. The remote leader, the individual with the power to take all the important decisions he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.

He does not attend team annual meetings, dispatching his son, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does interviews about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to support the club with private missives to media organisations, but nothing is heard in the open.

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

The directive from the team is that Rodgers stepped down, but reading his criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why he allow it to reach this far down the line?

If Rodgers is guilty of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why had been the coach not dismissed?

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

He claims his statements "played a part to a hostile atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the board. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary allegation, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

'Rodgers' Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Model Once More'

To return to happier times, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Rodgers deferred to Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

This was the figure who took the heat when Rodgers' returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive hiring, the reappearance of the returning hero for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the lurch for Leicester.

Desmond had his back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the charm, achieved the victories and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the fans became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a moment when his goals clashed with Celtic's operational approach, however.

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish way Celtic conducted their transfer business, the endless waiting for targets to be landed, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the need for what he termed "agility" in the market. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the club splurged record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the significant Auston Trusty - none of whom have cut it so far, with one already having left - the manager demanded increased resources and, often, he did it in public.

He planted a bomb about a internal disunity within the club and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his next news conference he would typically minimize it and almost reverse what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a risky game.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that purportedly originated from a source close to the organization. It said that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

He desired not to be there and he was arranging his way out, this was the implication of the article.

Supporters were angered. They now saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his board members did not support his vision to bring triumph.

The leak was poisonous, naturally, and it was intended to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we heard no more about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was shedding the support of the people in charge.

The regular {gripes