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Merely fifteen minutes after Celtic issued the news of their manager's shock resignation via a perfunctory short statement, the bombshell arrived, from Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in apparent fury.

Through 551-words, major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his old chum.

This individual he persuaded to join the team when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and required being in their place. And the figure he once more relied on after the previous manager departed to another club in the recent offseason.

So intense was the severity of his critique, the astonishing comeback of the former boss was almost an secondary note.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at the team, Martin O'Neill is returned in the dugout.

Currently - and maybe for a time. Based on comments he has said recently, O'Neill has been keen to secure a new position. He will view this one as the ultimate chance, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and praise.

Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well reach out to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will act as a soothing presence for the moment.

All-out Attempt at Reputation Destruction'

O'Neill's return - however strange as it may be - can be parked because the most significant 'wow!' development was the harsh way the shareholder described the former manager.

It was a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a branding of him as untrustful, a perpetrator of falsehoods, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the cost of others," stated he.

For somebody who values propriety and sets high importance in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, here was another illustration of how abnormal things have become at Celtic.

Desmond, the club's most powerful presence, operates in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to make all the major decisions he wants without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.

He never attend club AGMs, dispatching his offspring, his son, in his place. He rarely, if ever, gives interviews about the team unless they're glowing in nature. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.

There have been instances on an rare moment to support the club with confidential missives to news outlets, but nothing is heard in the open.

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

The official line from the team is that he resigned, but reading Desmond's invective, carefully, you have to wonder why he allow it to get such a critical point?

If the manager is guilty of all of the accusations that the shareholder is alleging he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why had been the coach not removed?

Desmond has charged him of distorting things in public that were inconsistent with the facts.

He claims his statements "played a part to a toxic environment around the team and encouraged 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 improper."

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

His Ambition Clashed with Celtic's Model Again

Looking back to happier days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager lauded the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan respected Dermot and, really, to no one other.

It was Desmond who drew the criticism when Rodgers' comeback happened, after the previous manager.

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

Desmond had Rodgers' support. Over time, the manager turned on the charm, achieved the wins and the honors, and an fragile truce with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship again.

There was always - consistently - going to be a moment when his 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 publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic went about their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be secured, then missed, as was frequently the case as far as he was believed.

Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. Supporters concurred with him.

Despite the organization spent unprecedented sums of funds in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - none of whom have cut it so far, with Idah already having departed - the manager pushed for more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in public.

He planted a bomb about a lack of cohesion inside the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would usually minimize it and almost contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion? Not at all, everybody is aligned, he'd claim. It appeared like he was engaging in a dangerous game.

A few months back there was a report in a newspaper that purportedly originated from a source associated with the organization. It said that the manager was damaging Celtic with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was managing his exit strategy.

He didn't want to be present and he was arranging his way out, this was the tone of the story.

Supporters were angered. They now viewed him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be removed on his shield because his directors wouldn't back his plans to achieve triumph.

This disclosure was poisonous, of course, and it was intended to harm him, which it did. He demanded for an investigation and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we heard nothing further about it.

By then it was clear the manager was shedding the backing of the individuals above him.

The frequent {gripes