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Just a quarter of an hour after Celtic released the news of their manager's surprising resignation via a brief short statement, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with clear signs in apparent fury.

Through 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 that period and required being in their place. Plus the figure he again relied on after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the summer of 2023.

So intense was the severity of his critique, the jaw-dropping comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.

Twenty years after his exit from the organization, and after much of his recent life was given over to an unending circuit of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at the team, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.

For now - and perhaps for a while. Considering comments he has said recently, O'Neill has been keen to secure a new position. He will view this role as the perfect chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a homecoming to the place where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.

Would he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. Celtic might well reach out to contact Postecoglou, but the new appointment will serve as a balm for the time being.

All-out Effort at Character Assassination

O'Neill's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be set aside because the most significant shocking development was the brutal way Desmond described the former manager.

This constituted a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a branding of him as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, deceptive and unjustifiable. "A single person's wish for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," wrote he.

For somebody who prizes decorum and sets high importance in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not complete secrecy, here was a further illustration of how abnormal situations have grown at the club.

Desmond, the club's most powerful figure, moves in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the authority to make all the important calls he wants without having the responsibility of justifying them in any open setting.

He does not participate in team annual meetings, dispatching his son, Ross, in his place. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's slow to communicate.

He has been known on an rare moment to defend the club with private missives to media organisations, but no statement is heard in the open.

This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he went against when going full thermonuclear on the manager on Monday.

The official line from the club is that he stepped down, but reviewing his invective, carefully, one must question why he permit it to reach this far down the line?

Assuming Rodgers is guilty of every one of the things that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to ask why had been the coach not dismissed?

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

He claims his statements "have contributed to a toxic environment around the team and encouraged animosity towards members of the management and the directors. A portion of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable."

Such an extraordinary allegation, that is. Legal representatives might be mobilising as we discuss.

His Aspirations Clashed with Celtic's Strategy Once More'

To return to better days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised the shareholder at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Rodgers respected Dermot and, truly, to no one other.

This was the figure who drew the heat when his comeback occurred, post-Postecoglou.

It was the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have described it, the return of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the difficulty for another club.

Desmond had Rodgers' support. Over time, the manager employed the charm, delivered the wins and the honors, and an fragile peace with the supporters turned into a love-in once more.

It was inevitable - consistently - going to be a moment when his ambition came in contact with Celtic's operational approach, though.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened once more, with bells on, recently. He publicly commented about the sluggish process Celtic conducted their player acquisitions, the interminable delay for targets to be landed, then missed, as was too often the case as far as he was believed.

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

Even when the organization spent unprecedented sums of funds in a twelve-month period on the expensive Arne Engels, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with one since having left - the manager demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.

He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his subsequent media briefing he would typically minimize it and nearly contradict what he stated.

Lack of cohesion? No, no, all are united, he'd claim. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous game.

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 harming the team with his open criticisms and that his real motivation was managing his departure plan.

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

Supporters were enraged. They then saw him as akin to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his honor because his board members did not support his plans to achieve success.

This disclosure was poisonous, naturally, and it was intended to hurt him, which it accomplished. He demanded 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 plain the manager was shedding the support of the people above him.

The frequent {gripes