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Just a quarter of an hour following Celtic released the news of Brendan Rodgers' shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph statement, the howitzer landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.

Through 551-words, key investor Dermot Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

The man he persuaded to come to the team when Rangers were gaining ground in that period and needed putting back in a box. Plus the figure he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

Such was the ferocity of Desmond's critique, the jaw-dropping comeback of the former boss was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after a large part of his recent life was dedicated to an continuous series of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a while. Considering comments he has expressed lately, he has been eager to secure another job. He will see this role as the ultimate opportunity, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such success and adulation.

Will he give it up easily? It seems unlikely. The club could possibly make a call to sound out Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the time being.

'Full-blooded Effort at Reputation Destruction'

The new manager's return - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the most significant shocking development was the brutal way the shareholder wrote of the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at defamation, a labeling of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," wrote he.

For a person who values decorum and places great store in dealings being done with discretion, if not outright privacy, here was a further example of how unusual situations have grown at the club.

The major figure, the organization's dominant presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to make all the major calls he pleases without having the obligation of justifying them in any public forum.

He never attend team annual meetings, dispatching his offspring, Ross, instead. He rarely, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.

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

This is precisely how he's wanted it to remain. And it's just what he went against when going all-out attack on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing Desmond's invective, carefully, one must question why he allow it to get this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of all of the accusations that Desmond is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to ask why was the manager not dismissed?

He has accused him of distorting information in public that did not tally with the facts.

He says his words "have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the team and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the executive team and the board. A portion of the criticism aimed at them, and at their families, has been completely unwarranted and unacceptable."

What an extraordinary allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be mobilising as we discuss.

His Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Model Once More'

To return to better days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded the shareholder at every turn, thanked him every chance. Brendan respected him and, truly, to no one other.

This was Desmond who took the heat when his returned occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive hiring, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the lurch for another club.

Desmond had his back. Over time, the manager turned on the charm, delivered the victories and the honors, and an fragile peace with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship once more.

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

It happened in his first incarnation and it transpired once more, with bells on, recently. He spoke openly about the slow way Celtic went about their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for prospects to be secured, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Time and again he stated about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the market. The fans concurred with him.

Despite the club splurged record amounts of funds in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly another player and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have performed well to date, with Idah since having left - Rodgers demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He planted a bomb about a internal disunity within the club and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would typically minimize it and nearly contradict what he said.

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

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that purportedly came from a source close to the club. It said that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his exit strategy.

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

The fans were angered. They now viewed him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his directors did not support his plans to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was damaging, naturally, and it was intended to harm Rodgers, which it did. He called for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. If there was a examination then we learned no more about it.

At that point it was clear Rodgers was losing the backing of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes