Just a quarter of an hour after the club issued the news of their manager's surprising departure via a perfunctory short statement, the howitzer arrived, from the major shareholder, with whiskers twitching in obvious fury.
In an extensive statement, major shareholder Desmond savaged his former ally.
This individual he persuaded to join the team when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and required being in their place. Plus the man he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou departed to another club in the recent offseason.
Such was the severity of his takedown, the astonishing comeback of Martin O'Neill was practically an secondary note.
Two decades after his departure from the organization, and after much of his latter years was given over to an unending series of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is back in the dugout.
Currently - and maybe for a while. Considering things he has said lately, he has been keen to secure another job. He'll see this one as the perfect chance, a present from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place where he enjoyed such glory and praise.
Will he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but O'Neill will serve as a soothing presence for the time being.
O'Neill's return - as surreal as it may be - can be set aside because the most significant shocking moment was the harsh manner the shareholder wrote of the former manager.
This constituted a forceful endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of Rodgers as deceitful, a perpetrator of untruths, a disseminator of falsehoods; disruptive, misleading and unjustifiable. "One individual's desire for self-interest at the expense of others," wrote Desmond.
For a person who values propriety and places great store in dealings being done with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, here was a further example of how unusual things have become at Celtic.
The major figure, the organization's most powerful figure, operates in the margins. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to make all the important decisions he pleases without having the obligation of justifying them in any public forum.
He never participate in team annual meetings, sending his son, Ross, in his place. He rarely, if ever, does interviews about the team unless they're hagiographic in nature. And even then, he's reluctant to speak out.
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.
It's exactly how he's preferred it to remain. And that's exactly what he contradicted when going full thermonuclear on Rodgers on that day.
The directive from the team is that he resigned, but reviewing Desmond's criticism, line by line, one must question why did he allow it to reach this far down the line?
If Rodgers is guilty of all of the things that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it's fair to inquire why was the coach not dismissed?
Desmond has accused him of spinning information in public that did not tally with reality.
He claims his statements "played a part to a toxic atmosphere around the team and fuelled hostility towards individuals of the management and the directors. A portion of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable."
Such an extraordinary allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be preparing as we discuss.
Looking back to better days, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to him and, truly, to no one other.
It was the figure who took the heat when his returned occurred, after the previous manager.
This marked the most controversial hiring, the return of the prodigal son for a few or, as other Celtic fans would have described it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the difficulty for another club.
Desmond had his back. Gradually, the manager turned on the charm, achieved the victories and the honors, and an uneasy truce with the fans became a affectionate relationship once more.
There was always - consistently - going to be a moment when his goals came in contact with Celtic's operational approach, however.
This occurred in his initial tenure and it transpired once more, with added intensity, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the slow way Celtic went about their transfer business, the interminable waiting for targets to be landed, then missed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.
Time and again he stated about the necessity for what he called "flexibility" in the transfer window. Supporters agreed with him.
Despite the club spent record amounts of money in a calendar year on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly another player and the £6m further acquisition - all of whom have cut it to date, with Idah since having left - the manager demanded increased resources and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.
He planted a bomb about a lack of cohesion within the team and then distanced himself. When asked about his remarks at his next media briefing he would typically minimize it and nearly reverse what he stated.
Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous game.
A few months back there was a story in a publication that purportedly originated from a insider associated with the club. It claimed that the manager was damaging Celtic with his public outbursts and that his real motivation was orchestrating his departure plan.
He desired not to be there and he was engineering his way out, that was the implication of the story.
Supporters were angered. They then viewed him as similar to a martyr who might be removed on his honor because his directors did not support his plans to achieve triumph.
The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to hurt Rodgers, which it accomplished. He demanded for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be removed. If there was a examination then we heard no more about it.
By then it was clear the manager was losing the support of the individuals above him.
The regular {gripes
