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Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the bombshell landed, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

In an extensive statement, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

The man he persuaded to come to the club when Rangers were gaining ground in 2016 and required being in their place. And the man he once more relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the jaw-dropping 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 continuous circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

For now - and perhaps for a time. Based on things he has expressed recently, he has been eager to secure a new position. He will see this one as the perfect chance, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the place where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Would he relinquish it easily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly make a call to sound out 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 biggest shocking development was the harsh way the shareholder wrote of Rodgers.

This constituted a forceful attempt at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a disseminator of misinformation; divisive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-preservation at the expense of everyone else," wrote Desmond.

For a person who prizes propriety and places great store in business being conducted with discretion, if not complete privacy, this was a further illustration of how unusual situations have grown at the club.

Desmond, the club's most powerful figure, moves in the background. The remote leader, the one with the power to make all the important decisions he wants without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

He never attend team AGMs, sending his offspring, Ross, instead. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're hagiographic in tone. And still, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the organization with private messages to media organisations, but no statement is heard in public.

It's exactly how he's wanted it to be. And that's just what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The directive from the team is that he stepped down, but reading Desmond's invective, carefully, one must question why did he allow it to get such a critical point?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of all of the things that Desmond is claiming he's guilty of, then it's fair to ask why was the coach not removed?

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

He says his statements "played a part to a toxic environment around the club and fuelled hostility towards members of the management and the board. A portion of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unjustified and improper."

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

'Rodgers' Ambition Clashed with the Club's Model Once More'

To return to better days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised Desmond at every turn, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers respected Dermot and, really, to no one other.

It was the figure who took the criticism when Rodgers' comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most controversial hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for another club.

The shareholder had his back. Over time, Rodgers employed the charm, delivered the victories and the trophies, and an fragile truce with the supporters became a affectionate relationship again.

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

This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened once more, with added intensity, recently. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish way the team conducted their player acquisitions, the endless waiting for targets to be landed, then not landed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

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

Even when the club spent unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the costly another player and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with one already having left - the manager demanded more and more and, often, he expressed this in public.

He planted a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the club and then walked away. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would typically minimize it and almost contradict what he stated.

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

Earlier this year there was a story in a publication that allegedly came from a source associated with the organization. It said that Rodgers was harming Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be present and he was arranging his exit, this was the implication of the story.

The fans were enraged. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his directors wouldn't support his plans to bring triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to harm Rodgers, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be removed. Whether there was a examination then we learned nothing further about it.

By then it was plain the manager was shedding the support of the individuals in charge.

The regular {gripes