Merely a quarter of an hour after the club issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock departure via a perfunctory five-paragraph statement, the bombshell landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in obvious anger.
In 551-words, major shareholder Desmond savaged his old chum.
The man he convinced to join the club when their rivals were gaining ground in that period and needed putting in their place. Plus the figure he once more turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the recent offseason.
Such was the severity of his takedown, the jaw-dropping comeback of the former boss was almost an after-thought.
Twenty years after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was given over to an unending circuit of appearances and the performance of all his past successes at Celtic, Martin O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.
Currently - and maybe for a time. Considering comments he has expressed lately, he has been eager to get another job. He'll see this role as the ultimate chance, a gift from the club's legacy, a return to the place where he experienced such glory and praise.
Would he give it up readily? You wouldn't have thought so. Celtic could possibly make a call to contact Postecoglou, but O'Neill will act as a balm for the moment.
The new manager's reappearance - as surreal as it is - can be parked because the most significant 'wow!' development was the harsh manner the shareholder described Rodgers.
This constituted a full-blooded endeavor at character assassination, a labeling of him as deceitful, a source of falsehoods, a spreader of falsehoods; disruptive, deceptive and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the expense of everyone else," stated Desmond.
For a person who prizes decorum and sets high importance in business being conducted with confidentiality, if not outright privacy, here was a further example of how unusual things have grown at the club.
The major figure, the club's most powerful presence, operates in the margins. The remote leader, the individual with the authority to take all the important decisions he pleases without having the obligation of explaining them in any public forum.
He never attend team annual meetings, sending his offspring, his son, instead. He rarely, if ever, does media talks about Celtic unless they're glowing in nature. And still, he's reluctant to speak out.
He has been known on an occasion or two to support the club with confidential messages to news outlets, but no statement is made in public.
This is precisely how he's preferred it to remain. And it's just what he contradicted when launching all-out attack on Rodgers on Monday.
The directive from the team is that he stepped down, but reading Desmond's invective, line by line, one must question why he allow it to get such a critical point?
If Rodgers is culpable of every one of the things that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to inquire why was the manager not removed?
He has accused him of spinning information in public that were inconsistent with the facts.
He claims Rodgers' words "played a part to a hostile environment around the club and encouraged hostility towards members of the executive team and the directors. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."
Such an remarkable allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be mobilising as we discuss.
To return to better days, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers praised the shareholder at every turn, thanked him whenever possible. Rodgers deferred to Dermot and, really, to nobody else.
It was the figure who drew the criticism when his comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.
This marked the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the difficulty for another club.
Desmond had his back. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the persuasion, achieved the victories and the trophies, and an uneasy truce with the supporters turned into a affectionate relationship once more.
There was always - consistently - going to be a point when Rodgers' goals came in contact with Celtic's business model, though.
It happened in his initial tenure and it transpired once more, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers spoke openly about the sluggish process the team went about their transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be secured, then not landed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.
Repeatedly he stated about the necessity for what he called "flexibility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.
Even when the club spent record amounts of money in a twelve-month period on the £11m Arne Engels, the costly Adam Idah and the £6m Auston Trusty - none of whom have performed well so far, with one since having left - the manager pushed for increased resources and, oftentimes, he did it in public.
He set a controversy about a lack of cohesion within the team and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his next media briefing he would usually minimize it and nearly contradict what he stated.
Internal issues? No, no, all are united, he'd say. It appeared like he was engaging in a dangerous game.
Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that purportedly came from a insider close to the club. It said that Rodgers was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was orchestrating his departure plan.
He didn't want to be there and he was arranging his exit, that was the implication of the article.
Supporters were angered. They then viewed him as similar to a martyr who might be carried out on his shield because his directors did not support his plans to achieve triumph.
The leak was damaging, naturally, and it was meant to hurt him, which it did. He called for an inquiry and for the guilty person to be dismissed. Whether there was a probe then we learned no more about it.
By then it was clear the manager was shedding the backing of the individuals in charge.
The frequent {gripes
A certified nutritionist and wellness coach passionate about helping others achieve their health goals through evidence-based practices.
