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Just a quarter of an hour following the club issued the news of their manager's surprising resignation via a perfunctory short communication, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

Through an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

This individual he persuaded to come to the club when their rivals were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting in their place. And the man he again relied on after the previous manager departed to another club in the recent offseason.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing return of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending circuit of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

For now - and maybe for a time. Considering things he has expressed recently, he has been eager to secure a new position. He will see this one as the ultimate chance, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such success and adulation.

Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well reach out to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - as surreal as it may be - can be parked because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the harsh manner the shareholder described the former manager.

This constituted a forceful attempt at character assassination, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of untruths, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," stated Desmond.

For a person who values decorum and sets high importance in dealings being done with discretion, if not complete privacy, here was a further example of how abnormal things have become at Celtic.

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

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

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the club with private messages to news outlets, but no statement is heard in the open.

It's exactly how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the team is that Rodgers resigned, but reading his invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get this far down the line?

If the manager is guilty of every one of the things that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it's fair to ask why had been the manager not removed?

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

He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the club and encouraged animosity towards individuals of the management and the board. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

What an extraordinary allegation, indeed. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we speak.

'Rodgers' Aspirations Clashed with the Club's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to happier days, they were tight, the two men. Rodgers praised the shareholder at every turn, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan respected him and, truly, to nobody else.

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

This marked the most divisive appointment, the return of the returning hero for a few or, as some other supporters would have put it, the return of the shameless one, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' back. Gradually, the manager employed the charm, delivered the victories and the trophies, and an fragile truce with the supporters became a affectionate relationship once more.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when Rodgers' goals came in contact with the club's operational approach, however.

This occurred in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with bells on, over the last year. He publicly commented about the sluggish process the team went about their transfer business, the interminable waiting for prospects to be landed, then not landed, as was frequently the situation as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he spoke about the necessity for what he called "agility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the club splurged record amounts of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have performed well to date, with Idah since having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, often, he expressed this in public.

He planted a bomb about a internal disunity inside the club and then walked away. Upon questioning about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would usually downplay it and almost contradict what he stated.

Internal issues? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It looked like he was engaging in a dangerous strategy.

A few months back there was a report in a publication that purportedly originated from a insider close to the club. It claimed that the manager was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.

He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his exit, that was the tone of the story.

Supporters were enraged. They then viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his board members wouldn't support his plans to bring triumph.

The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it did. He demanded for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

At that point it was plain the manager was shedding the backing of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes