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Just fifteen minutes after Celtic issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a perfunctory short communication, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

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

The man he persuaded to join the club when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting in their place. Plus the man he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of his critique, the jaw-dropping comeback of the former boss was practically an after-thought.

Two decades after his departure from the club, and after much of his recent life was dedicated to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Based on things he has said lately, O'Neill has been eager to get a new position. He'll see this one as the perfect opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such success and adulation.

Would he give it up easily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club could possibly make a call to sound out Postecoglou, but O'Neill will serve as a balm for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the biggest shocking development was the brutal way Desmond wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-interest at the cost of others," stated he.

For somebody who prizes decorum and places great store in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, here was a further example of how unusual situations have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the club's dominant presence, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the power to take all the important decisions he wants without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

He never participate in team AGMs, sending his son, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.

He has been known on an rare moment to support the organization with confidential messages to news outlets, but nothing is made in the open.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And it's just what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the team is that he resigned, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, one must question why he permit it to reach this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of every one of the accusations that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the coach not removed?

Desmond has charged him of distorting things in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He says Rodgers' statements "played a part to a hostile environment around the club and fuelled hostility towards members of the management and the directors. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

What an remarkable charge, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we speak.

His Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Model Once More'

To return to happier days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to Dermot and, truly, to no one other.

It was Desmond who drew the criticism when Rodgers' comeback occurred, after the previous manager.

It was the most controversial hiring, the reappearance of the returning hero for a few or, as other supporters would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for Leicester.

The shareholder had his support. Over time, the manager turned on the persuasion, delivered the wins and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

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

It happened in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. He publicly commented about the slow way the team conducted their transfer business, the interminable delay 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 necessity for what he called "agility" in the transfer window. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the club spent unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have cut it to date, with one already having left - the manager demanded increased resources and, often, he expressed this in public.

He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion within the club and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his next news conference he would typically downplay it and almost contradict what he stated.

Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that allegedly came from a source associated with the club. It said that the manager was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his true aim was orchestrating his exit strategy.

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

The fans were enraged. They now viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his board members did not back his plans to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to harm him, which it did. He demanded for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be removed. If there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

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

The regular {gripes