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Just fifteen minutes after Celtic issued the announcement of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the howitzer landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in obvious anger.

Through an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond savaged his old chum.

This individual he convinced to come to the team when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and needed putting in their place. And the man he again turned to after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of Desmond's critique, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was practically an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his recent life was given over to an continuous circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering comments he has said recently, O'Neill has been eager to secure a new position. He will view this one as the ultimate opportunity, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such glory and praise.

Will he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's return - however strange as it is - can be parked because the most significant shocking development was the harsh manner the shareholder wrote of Rodgers.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the cost of others," wrote Desmond.

For a person who values decorum and places great store in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, this was another illustration of how unusual situations have grown at Celtic.

The major figure, the organization's most powerful figure, moves in the margins. The remote leader, the one with the authority to make all the important decisions he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never participate in team annual meetings, sending his offspring, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two 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 be. And it's exactly what he went against when going full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the team is that he resigned, but reviewing his invective, line by line, one must question why did he allow it to get such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of all of the accusations that Desmond is claiming he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to ask why was the manager not removed?

Desmond has accused him of spinning things in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the board. A portion of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unwarranted and unacceptable."

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

'Rodgers' Aspirations Conflicted with the Club's Strategy Again

Looking back to happier times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised Desmond at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan respected Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.

This was the figure who took the criticism when his returned happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most controversial appointment, the return of the returning hero for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had his back. Over time, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the fans turned into a love-in again.

There was always - always - going to be a moment when his goals clashed with Celtic's operational approach, though.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened again, with bells on, recently. Rodgers publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

Time and again he stated about the need for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent unprecedented sums of funds in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the £9m another player and the £6m further acquisition - all of whom have cut it so far, with Idah since having left - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would typically downplay it and nearly contradict what he stated.

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

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a source associated with the organization. It said that the manager was harming the team with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

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

The fans were angered. They then saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his directors did not support his vision to bring success.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was intended to harm him, which it accomplished. He called for an investigation and for the guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we learned nothing further about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was shedding the support of the people above him.

The regular {gripes