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Just fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory short communication, the bombshell arrived, from Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in apparent anger.

In 551-words, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

This individual he persuaded to come to the club when their rivals were getting uppity in that period and required being back in a box. Plus the figure he again relied on after the previous manager left for another club in the recent offseason.

Such was the severity of his critique, the astonishing return 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 continuous series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Considering comments he has said recently, O'Neill has been eager to get a new position. He'll view this one as the perfect chance, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the place where he experienced such glory and adulation.

Would he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly make a call to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's return - however strange as it is - can be parked because the most significant 'wow!' moment was the brutal manner the shareholder described the former manager.

It was a forceful attempt at character assassination, a labeling of him as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the cost of everyone else," stated he.

For a person who prizes propriety and sets high importance in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, this was another illustration of how abnormal situations have grown at the club.

The major figure, the club's most powerful figure, moves in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the power to take all the important decisions he pleases without having the responsibility of justifying them in any public forum.

He does not attend team annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in nature. And still, he's slow to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to defend the club with private missives to media organisations, but no statement is made in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to be. And it's just what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, line by line, one must question why he allow it to reach this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to ask why was the manager not removed?

Desmond has charged him of distorting things in open forums that were inconsistent with reality.

He says Rodgers' words "have contributed to a toxic environment around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the management and the directors. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and improper."

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

His Ambition Conflicted with Celtic's Model Once More'

To return to better days, they were tight, the two men. The manager lauded Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, really, to no one other.

It was Desmond who drew the heat when Rodgers' returned happened, after the previous manager.

This marked the most divisive hiring, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Over time, the manager employed the charm, achieved the victories and the honors, and an uneasy peace with the supporters turned into a love-in once more.

There was always - consistently - going to be a point when Rodgers' ambition clashed with Celtic's business model, however.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers publicly commented about the slow way the team conducted their player acquisitions, the endless delay for prospects to be landed, then not landed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was believed.

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

Even when the organization splurged record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - all of whom have performed well to date, with Idah since having departed - Rodgers demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He set a bomb about a internal disunity inside the club and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would typically minimize it and nearly contradict what he said.

Internal issues? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous strategy.

Earlier this year there was a story in a newspaper that purportedly originated from a insider close to the club. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his way out, that was the implication of the story.

The fans were enraged. They then viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his board members wouldn't support his vision to bring success.

The leak was damaging, of course, and it was intended to harm him, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was plain the manager was losing the backing of the individuals above him.

The regular {gripes