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Just fifteen minutes following Celtic released the announcement of their manager's surprising resignation via a brief five-paragraph statement, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in obvious fury.

In an extensive statement, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

This individual he convinced to come to the club when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. And the figure he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

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

Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after much of his latter years was dedicated to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

Currently - and maybe for a time. Based on things he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been keen to secure a new position. He'll see this one as the perfect chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Will he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. The club might well reach out to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will serve as a balm for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Character Assassination

The new manager's return - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the most significant 'wow!' development was the harsh way the shareholder described Rodgers.

This constituted a forceful endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's desire for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," wrote he.

For somebody who values propriety and sets high importance in business being done with discretion, if not outright secrecy, here was a further example of how abnormal things have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to take all the important calls he pleases without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He never participate in club annual meetings, sending his son, his son, instead. He rarely, 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 defend the organization with confidential messages to news outlets, but no statement is made in public.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to be. And it's exactly what he contradicted when going all-out attack on the manager on that day.

The official line from the club is that he resigned, but reviewing his criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why did he permit it to get this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of all of the things that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to ask why had been the manager not removed?

Desmond has accused him of spinning information in open forums that were inconsistent with the facts.

He claims his words "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and encouraged hostility towards members of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the criticism directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

Such an remarkable charge, that is. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we speak.

His Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

To return to happier days, they were close, the two men. The manager lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to him and, truly, to nobody else.

This was the figure who drew the heat when Rodgers' returned happened, after the previous manager.

It was the most divisive appointment, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for Leicester.

The shareholder had Rodgers' back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the charm, delivered the victories and the honors, and an fragile peace with the fans became a love-in again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his goals came in contact with the club's operational approach, however.

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired again, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers publicly commented about the sluggish way Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the endless delay for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

Time and again he stated about the need for what he called "agility" in the transfer window. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with one since having left - the manager demanded more and more and, often, he expressed this in public.

He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then walked away. When asked about his comments at his next news conference he would typically downplay it and nearly contradict what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, all are united, he'd say. It looked like he was playing a risky strategy.

Earlier this year there was a story in a publication that purportedly originated from a source associated with the club. It claimed that Rodgers was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

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

The fans were angered. They now saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his directors wouldn't support his vision 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 guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a examination then we heard no more about it.

By then it was plain the manager was shedding the backing of the people in charge.

The regular {gripes