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Just a quarter of an hour following Celtic issued the news of their manager's surprising departure via a brief five-paragraph communication, the howitzer arrived, from the major shareholder, with clear signs in obvious fury.

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

This individual he convinced to come to the club when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. And the figure he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

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

Twenty years after his departure from the club, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is returned in the manager's seat.

Currently - and maybe for a while. Based on comments he has expressed recently, O'Neill has been keen to secure a new position. He will see this one as the ultimate opportunity, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Would he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well make a call to sound out Postecoglou, but the new appointment will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - however strange as it may be - can be set aside because the biggest shocking moment was the brutal manner the shareholder described the former manager.

It was a forceful endeavor at defamation, a branding of him as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the expense of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For somebody who values propriety and places great store in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, this was a further illustration of how unusual things have become at the club.

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

He never participate in club AGMs, sending his offspring, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.

He has been known on an rare moment to support the organization with private messages to news outlets, but no statement is heard in public.

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

The directive from the team is that he stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he permit it to reach this far down the line?

If the manager is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is claiming he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why had been the coach not dismissed?

He has accused him of distorting things in public that were inconsistent with reality.

He claims his words "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. Some of the criticism directed at them, and at their families, has been completely unjustified and improper."

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

'Rodgers' Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Model Once More'

To return to better days, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised the shareholder at every turn, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to Dermot and, truly, to no one other.

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

It was the most divisive hiring, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the difficulty for another club.

The shareholder had his support. Over time, Rodgers employed the persuasion, delivered the wins and the trophies, and an fragile truce with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when his ambition clashed with Celtic's business model, though.

This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired again, with bells on, recently. He spoke openly about the sluggish process the team conducted their transfer business, the endless waiting for prospects to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was concerned.

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

Even when the organization spent unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m another player and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have performed well so far, with Idah already having departed - Rodgers demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he did it in openly.

He planted a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then walked away. When asked about his comments at his next media briefing he would usually minimize it and nearly reverse what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, all are united, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was engaging in a risky strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that allegedly came from a insider associated with the club. It claimed that the manager was harming Celtic with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his departure plan.

He desired not to be present and he was engineering his way out, this was the tone of the article.

Supporters were enraged. They then saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his board members did not back his vision to achieve triumph.

The leak was poisonous, naturally, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we learned no more about it.

At that point it was plain the manager was shedding the support of the individuals above him.

The regular {gripes