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Merely fifteen minutes following the club released the announcement of their manager's surprising departure via a brief short statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious anger.

In 551-words, key investor Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

This individual he persuaded to come to the team when Rangers were gaining ground in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. And the figure he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

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

Two decades after his exit from the organization, and after much of his latter years was given over to an unending circuit of public speaking engagements and the performance of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering things he has expressed lately, O'Neill has been eager to secure another job. He'll view this role as the perfect opportunity, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such success and praise.

Would he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. The club might well reach out to contact their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - however strange as it is - can be parked because the most significant 'wow!' development was the harsh manner Desmond described Rodgers.

This constituted a forceful endeavor at character assassination, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-preservation at the expense of others," stated he.

For somebody who values propriety and sets high importance in business being done with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, this was another example of how abnormal situations have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the margins. The remote leader, the one with the power to make all the major calls he wants without having the responsibility of explaining them in any open setting.

He does not attend team AGMs, sending his offspring, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're hagiographic in nature. 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 no statement is made in public.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to be. And it's just what he went against when going all-out attack on Rodgers on that day.

The official line from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing Desmond's invective, carefully, one must question why he permit it to get this far down the line?

If Rodgers is culpable of all of the things that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it's fair to inquire why was the manager not removed?

He has charged him of distorting things in open forums that did not tally with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' statements "played a part to a toxic environment around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the board. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and unacceptable."

What an extraordinary allegation, that is. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we discuss.

His Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Model Again

To return to better days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him every chance. Rodgers respected him and, truly, to nobody else.

This was the figure who drew the criticism when his returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most controversial appointment, the return of the returning hero for some supporters or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the difficulty for Leicester.

Desmond had his support. Gradually, the manager turned on the persuasion, delivered the wins and the honors, and an fragile peace with the supporters turned into a love-in again.

There was always - always - going to be a moment when Rodgers' ambition came in contact with Celtic's business model, however.

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with added intensity, over the last year. He spoke openly about the sluggish way the team conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was concerned.

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

Even when the organization splurged unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the £11m one signing, the costly another player and the £6m Auston Trusty - all of whom have performed well so far, with one since having left - Rodgers demanded increased resources and, often, he expressed this in public.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity within the team and then walked away. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would usually downplay it and almost reverse what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It looked like he was engaging in a risky game.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly originated from a source associated with the organization. It claimed that the manager was damaging the team with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.

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

The fans were angered. They then saw him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his directors wouldn't back his plans to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, 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 probe then we heard no more about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was losing the support of the individuals above him.

The regular {gripes