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Just a quarter of an hour after the club released the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

In an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

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 once more turned to after the previous manager departed to another club in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing return of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his recent life was dedicated to an continuous series of appearances and the playing of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

Currently - and maybe for a time. Considering comments he has said lately, he has been keen to secure a new position. He will see this one as the ultimate opportunity, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Would he relinquish it readily? You wouldn't have thought so. The club could possibly make a call to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it may be - can be parked because the biggest shocking development was the brutal manner Desmond described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For a person who values propriety and places great store in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, this was a further example of how abnormal situations have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the club's dominant presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the authority to take all the important calls he wants without having the obligation of justifying them in any public forum.

He does not attend club annual meetings, sending his offspring, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the organization with confidential missives to news outlets, 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 launching all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the club is that he resigned, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, carefully, one must question why he permit it to get such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why had been the manager not removed?

Desmond has charged him of spinning information in open forums that did not tally with reality.

He says his words "played a part to a toxic environment around the club and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the management and the directors. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unwarranted and unacceptable."

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

'Rodgers' Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Model Again

To return to better days, they were close, the two men. Rodgers praised Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan respected Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.

It was the figure who took the criticism when his returned happened, post-Postecoglou.

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

Desmond had his support. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the charm, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the fans turned into a love-in again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his goals clashed with the club's operational approach, though.

It happened in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with added intensity, recently. He spoke openly about the sluggish way the team conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. The fans agreed with him.

Despite the club spent unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have performed well to date, with Idah since having left - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, often, he expressed this in public.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his next news conference he would usually downplay it and almost reverse what he said.

Internal issues? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It appeared like he was engaging in a dangerous game.

Earlier this year there was a story in a newspaper that purportedly came from a source associated with the club. It claimed that the manager was harming Celtic with his public outbursts and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

He didn't want to be present and he was engineering his way out, that was the tone of the story.

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

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. 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 the manager was shedding the support of the people in charge.

The frequent {gripes