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Just fifteen minutes after the club issued the news of their manager's shock departure via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the howitzer arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

In 551-words, key investor Desmond savaged his former ally.

This individual he convinced to come to the team when Rangers were getting uppity in that period and required being back in a box. Plus the man he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the ferocity of his takedown, the astonishing return of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Two decades after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his recent life was given over to an continuous circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering things he has said recently, O'Neill has been keen to get another job. He'll view this role as the ultimate chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he enjoyed such success and praise.

Will he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. The club might well reach out to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a balm for the moment.

All-out Attempt at Character Assassination

O'Neill's reappearance - however strange as it may be - can be parked because the most significant shocking development was the brutal way the shareholder described Rodgers.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-preservation at the cost of others," stated Desmond.

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

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to take all the important calls he wants without having the obligation of explaining them in any open setting.

He never attend team annual meetings, dispatching his son, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And even then, he's slow to communicate.

There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the club with confidential missives to news outlets, but no statement is made in public.

This is precisely how he's wanted it to be. And that's exactly what he went against when going full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the club is that he resigned, but reading Desmond's invective, carefully, one must question why he permit it to reach such a critical point?

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

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

He claims his words "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the board. A portion of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable."

Such an remarkable allegation, indeed. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.

His Aspirations Conflicted with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

Looking back to better days, they were close, the two men. Rodgers lauded Desmond at every turn, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan respected Dermot and, really, to no one other.

It was the figure who drew 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 put it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

The shareholder had his support. Over time, Rodgers employed the charm, achieved the victories and the honors, and an fragile truce with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship again.

It was inevitable - always - going to be a moment when his goals clashed with the club's operational approach, though.

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish way the team went about their player acquisitions, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Repeatedly he stated about the need for what he called "agility" in the market. The fans agreed with him.

Even when the club spent record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the £9m another player and the £6m further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with Idah already having left - Rodgers pushed for increased resources and, often, he expressed this in openly.

He planted a controversy about a internal disunity within the team and then walked away. When asked about his comments at his subsequent news conference he would usually minimize it and almost reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? No, no, everybody is aligned, he'd say. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a dangerous game.

A few months back there was a story in a newspaper that purportedly originated from a insider close to the club. It claimed that the manager was harming the team with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was orchestrating his exit strategy.

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

Supporters were enraged. They now saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his directors did not support his plans to achieve success.

This disclosure was damaging, of course, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be removed. Whether there was a probe then we learned nothing further about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was losing the support of the people in charge.

The frequent {gripes