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Just fifteen minutes following the club released the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the howitzer landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in apparent fury.

Through 551-words, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he persuaded to join the club when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. Plus the man he once more relied on after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's critique, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his exit from the organization, and after much of his recent life was dedicated to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and perhaps for a time. Based on comments he has said lately, he has been eager to secure a new position. He'll see this role as the perfect opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such success and praise.

Will he relinquish it easily? It seems unlikely. Celtic could possibly make a call to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the moment.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the most significant shocking moment was the harsh way Desmond wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a labeling of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a disseminator of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the expense of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For somebody who prizes decorum and places great store in business being done with discretion, if not outright privacy, here was a further illustration of how abnormal situations have become at the club.

The major figure, the organization's most powerful figure, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the power to take all the major decisions he wants without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

He never attend team annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's slow to speak out.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the club with private missives to news outlets, but nothing is heard in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he went against when launching full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reading Desmond's criticism, line by line, you have to wonder why he allow it to get such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is claiming he's responsible for, then it's fair to ask why was the coach not dismissed?

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

He says his words "have contributed to a hostile atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the management and the directors. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and unacceptable."

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

His Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to happier days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to him and, really, to no one other.

This was Desmond who took the criticism when his comeback occurred, after the previous manager.

It was the most controversial appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the shameless one, who left them in the difficulty for another club.

The shareholder had his support. Gradually, the manager employed the charm, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an fragile peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when Rodgers' ambition clashed with Celtic's operational approach, though.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish way Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the endless delay for prospects to be secured, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the need for what he called "agility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Even when the club splurged record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the costly another player and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have cut it to date, with Idah since having departed - Rodgers pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the club 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, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a risky game.

A few months back there was a story in a publication that allegedly came from a insider associated with the organization. It said that the manager was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his exit strategy.

He desired not to be there and he was arranging his exit, that was the tone of the article.

Supporters were enraged. They now viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his board members wouldn't back his plans to bring triumph.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was plain Rodgers was shedding the backing of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes