Just a quarter of an hour following the club released the news of Brendan Rodgers' surprising resignation via a perfunctory short communication, the bombshell arrived, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in apparent anger.
Through 551-words, key investor Desmond eviscerated his former ally.
The man he persuaded to come to the team when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and required being in their place. And the man he once more turned to after the previous manager left for another club in the summer of 2023.
Such was the ferocity of Desmond's takedown, the jaw-dropping comeback of Martin O'Neill was almost an after-thought.
Two decades after his departure from the club, and after a large part of his latter years was dedicated to an continuous circuit of public speaking engagements and the playing of all his past successes at Celtic, O'Neill is back in the dugout.
For now - and maybe for a time. Considering comments he has said lately, O'Neill has been keen to secure another job. He will view this one as the perfect chance, a present from the club's legacy, a homecoming to the environment where he experienced such success and praise.
Will he relinquish it readily? It seems unlikely. The club might well reach out to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will serve as a balm for the time being.
The new manager's return - however strange as it is - can be set aside because the most significant shocking development was the brutal manner Desmond wrote of the former manager.
This constituted a forceful attempt at defamation, a labeling of him as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "One individual's wish for self-interest at the cost of others," wrote Desmond.
For somebody who prizes decorum and places great store in dealings being done with discretion, if not outright secrecy, here was a further example of how abnormal situations have grown at Celtic.
Desmond, the organization's most powerful figure, moves in the background. The remote leader, the one with the authority to make all the major calls he pleases without having the responsibility of explaining them in any public forum.
He does not attend team annual meetings, sending his offspring, his son, in his place. He seldom, if ever, does media talks about the team unless they're glowing in tone. And still, he's slow to speak out.
There have been instances on an occasion or two to defend the club with private missives to news outlets, but no statement is heard in the open.
This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And that's just what he went against when going full thermonuclear on the manager on that day.
The directive from the club is that he stepped down, but reviewing his criticism, carefully, one must question why he allow it to get this far down the line?
Assuming the manager is guilty of every one of the accusations that the shareholder is alleging he's responsible for, then it is reasonable to inquire why had been the manager not removed?
Desmond has accused him of distorting information in public that did not tally with the facts.
He says Rodgers' words "have contributed to a toxic environment around the club and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the executive team and the board. Some of the abuse aimed at them, and at their loved ones, has been entirely unwarranted and improper."
Such an extraordinary allegation, indeed. Lawyers might be preparing as we speak.
To return to happier times, they were close, Dermot and Brendan. The manager praised the shareholder at all opportunities, thanked him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.
It was Desmond who took the heat when Rodgers' comeback happened, post-Postecoglou.
This marked the most divisive appointment, the reappearance of the returning hero for a few or, as other supporters would have put it, the arrival of the unapologetic figure, who departed in the lurch for another club.
Desmond had Rodgers' support. Gradually, Rodgers turned on the charm, delivered the wins and the trophies, 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 clashed with the club's business model, though.
This occurred in his initial tenure and it happened again, with bells on, recently. He spoke openly about the sluggish way the team went about their transfer business, the endless delay for targets to be secured, then missed, as was too often the situation as far as he was believed.
Repeatedly he stated about the need for what he termed "agility" in the transfer window. The fans concurred with him.
Even when the club splurged unprecedented sums of money in a twelve-month period on the expensive one signing, the costly Adam Idah and the significant further acquisition - all of whom have performed well to date, with Idah since having departed - Rodgers demanded more and more and, oftentimes, he expressed this in openly.
He set a controversy about a internal disunity inside the club and then distanced himself. Upon questioning about his remarks at his subsequent news conference he would typically minimize it and nearly reverse what he stated.
Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It appeared like Rodgers was playing a dangerous game.
Earlier this year there was a report in a publication that purportedly originated 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 orchestrating his exit strategy.
He didn't want to be there and he was engineering his exit, that was the implication of the article.
Supporters were angered. They now saw him as akin to a martyr who might be carried out on his honor because his board members wouldn't back his vision to bring success.
The leak was damaging, of course, and it was intended to hurt Rodgers, which it did. He called for an inquiry and for the responsible individual to be dismissed. Whether there was a examination then we heard no more about it.
At that point it was clear Rodgers was shedding the backing of the people above him.
The frequent {gripes
Tech enthusiast and writer with a passion for exploring emerging technologies and their impact on society.
