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Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic released the news of their manager's shock resignation via a brief five-paragraph communication, the bombshell landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

In an extensive statement, key investor Desmond eviscerated his former ally.

This individual he persuaded to come to the club when Rangers were gaining ground in 2016 and needed putting back in a box. And the man he once more relied on after the previous manager left for Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the astonishing return of the former boss was practically an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at Celtic, O'Neill is back in the dugout.

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

Would he relinquish it readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well make a call to contact their ex-manager, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the moment.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the biggest 'wow!' moment was the brutal manner the shareholder wrote of Rodgers.

It was a full-blooded attempt at defamation, a labeling of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; divisive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's wish for self-preservation at the expense of others," wrote he.

For somebody who prizes decorum and sets high importance in dealings being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete privacy, this was a further example of how abnormal things have grown at Celtic.

Desmond, the organization's most powerful figure, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the one with the authority to make all the major calls he wants without having the responsibility of explaining them in any open setting.

He does not attend club AGMs, dispatching his offspring, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, does interviews about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's slow to speak out.

He has been known on an rare moment to defend the organization with private messages to media organisations, but nothing is made in public.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And that's exactly what he contradicted when launching full thermonuclear on Rodgers on Monday.

The directive from the team is that he resigned, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, carefully, you have to wonder why he permit it to reach this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that the shareholder is claiming he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why had been the coach not removed?

Desmond has charged him of spinning things in public that did not tally with the facts.

He says Rodgers' statements "played a part to a hostile environment around the club and encouraged hostility towards individuals of the executive team and the board. Some of the criticism aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."

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

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

To return to better days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded Desmond at all opportunities, thanked him every chance. Brendan deferred to him and, truly, to no one other.

It was the figure who drew the heat when his returned happened, post-Postecoglou.

This marked the most controversial hiring, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have put it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who left them in the difficulty for Leicester.

The shareholder had Rodgers' back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the charm, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy peace with the supporters turned into a love-in again.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a point when Rodgers' ambition clashed with Celtic's operational approach, however.

It happened in his initial tenure and it happened again, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish process Celtic went about their transfer business, the interminable waiting for prospects to be landed, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was concerned.

Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he termed "agility" in the market. Supporters concurred with him.

Even when the club splurged record amounts of money in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the costly another player and the significant Auston Trusty - all of whom have performed well to date, with Idah already having departed - the manager demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he did it in public.

He set a controversy about a internal disunity inside the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would typically minimize it and almost reverse what he stated.

Internal issues? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous strategy.

Earlier this year there was a report in a newspaper that allegedly originated from a source close to the club. It said that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He desired not to be present and he was arranging his way out, that was the implication of the story.

Supporters were enraged. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his honor because his board members did not support his vision to bring success.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it did. He demanded for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we learned nothing further about it.

By then it was clear Rodgers was shedding the support of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes