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Just a quarter of an hour following the club issued the news of Brendan Rodgers' shock departure via a brief short statement, the howitzer landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent anger.

Through 551-words, key investor Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he persuaded to come to the team when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and required being back in a box. And the man he again turned to after the previous manager departed to Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

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

Twenty years after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his recent life was dedicated to an unending series of appearances and the playing of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and maybe for a while. Based on comments he has expressed lately, O'Neill has been keen to secure a new position. He will see this one as the perfect chance, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Will he relinquish it readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well reach out to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the harsh way the shareholder described Rodgers.

It was a forceful attempt at defamation, a labeling of him as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For a person who prizes decorum and sets high importance in business being conducted with discretion, if not outright secrecy, this was another example of how unusual situations have grown at the club.

The major figure, the organization's dominant figure, moves in the background. The remote leader, the one with the power to make all the major decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.

He never participate in club annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, Ross, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're glowing in nature. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to support the club with private messages to media organisations, but no statement is heard in the open.

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

The directive from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reading Desmond's invective, line by line, you have to wonder why he permit it to reach such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of every one of the accusations that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it's fair to ask why had been the coach not dismissed?

Desmond has accused him of distorting things in public that did not tally with reality.

He claims his statements "have contributed to a toxic 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 loved ones, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

What an remarkable allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be mobilising as we discuss.

His Aspirations Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Again

To return to happier days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager lauded the shareholder at every turn, thanked him every chance. Brendan respected him and, really, to no one other.

This was the figure who drew the heat when Rodgers' returned happened, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most divisive appointment, the return of the returning hero for some supporters 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. Over time, Rodgers employed the persuasion, achieved the victories and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

There was always - consistently - going to be a point when his goals came in contact with the club's business model, however.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with added intensity, recently. He publicly commented about the sluggish process the team conducted their transfer business, the interminable waiting for prospects to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he called "agility" in the market. Supporters agreed with him.

Despite the organization splurged record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the significant Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well so far, with one since having left - the manager pushed for more and more and, often, he did it in openly.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity inside the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his next news conference he would usually 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 strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly came from a source associated with the organization. It claimed that Rodgers was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was orchestrating his exit strategy.

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

Supporters were enraged. They now saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his board members wouldn't support his plans to achieve success.

The leak was poisonous, naturally, and it was intended to hurt him, which it accomplished. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. If there was a probe then we heard no more about it.

At that point it was plain the manager was losing the backing of the individuals in charge.

The regular {gripes