Just a quarter of an hour after the club issued the announcement of Brendan Rodgers' shock departure via a perfunctory short statement, the howitzer landed, courtesy of the major shareholder, with clear signs in obvious anger.
In an extensive statement, major shareholder Dermot Desmond eviscerated his former ally.
The man he convinced to join the team when Rangers were getting uppity in 2016 and needed putting in their place. And the man he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for another club in the recent offseason.
So intense was the severity of Desmond's critique, the astonishing return of the former boss was practically an after-thought.
Twenty years after his departure from the organization, and after a large part of his recent life was dedicated to an unending series of appearances and the performance of all his old hits at the team, O'Neill is back in the manager's seat.
For now - and maybe for a time. Considering things he has expressed lately, O'Neill has been keen to get another job. He'll see this one as the ultimate chance, a gift from the Celtic Gods, a return to the environment where he enjoyed such glory and adulation.
Would he give it up readily? It seems unlikely. The club might well make a call to sound out their ex-manager, but the new appointment will act 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 moment was the brutal manner the shareholder wrote of Rodgers.
It was a full-blooded attempt at character assassination, a branding of Rodgers as untrustful, a source of falsehoods, a spreader of misinformation; disruptive, misleading and unacceptable. "A single person's desire for self-interest at the cost of everyone else," wrote he.
For a person who values propriety and places great store in dealings being conducted with confidentiality, if not outright secrecy, here was a further illustration of how unusual situations have become at Celtic.
Desmond, the club's most powerful presence, moves in the background. The absentee totem, the individual with the power to take all the major decisions he wants without having the obligation of justifying them in any open setting.
He does not participate in club AGMs, sending his son, his son, instead. He seldom, if ever, gives media talks about the team unless they're hagiographic in tone. And even then, he's reluctant to communicate.
There have been instances on an rare moment to support the organization with private missives to media organisations, but nothing is heard in public.
This is precisely how he's preferred it to be. And that's exactly what he went against when launching all-out attack on the manager on Monday.
The official line from the club is that Rodgers stepped down, but reviewing his invective, carefully, one must question why did he permit it to get this far down the line?
Assuming Rodgers is guilty of all of the things that Desmond is alleging he's guilty of, then it is reasonable to ask why was the manager not removed?
He has charged him of distorting information in open forums that did not tally with the facts.
He claims Rodgers' words "have contributed to a hostile environment around the team and fuelled animosity towards individuals of the executive team and the directors. A portion of the abuse directed at them, and at their loved ones, has been completely unjustified and improper."
What an remarkable allegation, that is. Legal representatives might be preparing as we discuss.
Looking back to better times, they were tight, Dermot and Brendan. Rodgers lauded Desmond at all opportunities, expressed gratitude to him whenever possible. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, truly, to nobody else.
This was Desmond who drew the heat when Rodgers' comeback occurred, post-Postecoglou.
It was the most controversial hiring, the return of the prodigal son for some supporters or, as some other supporters would have put it, the return of the shameless one, who left them in the difficulty for another club.
Desmond had his support. Over time, Rodgers employed the persuasion, achieved the victories and the honors, and an fragile peace with the fans turned into a affectionate relationship once more.
There was always - consistently - going to be a point when his goals came in contact with the club's business model, however.
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 transfer business, the interminable delay for targets to be landed, then missed, as was too often the case as far as he was concerned.
Repeatedly he spoke about the need for what he termed "flexibility" in the market. The fans concurred with him.
Despite the organization spent unprecedented sums of money in a calendar year on the expensive one signing, the £9m Adam Idah and the significant Auston Trusty - none of whom have cut it so far, with one since having left - the manager demanded increased resources and, often, he expressed this in public.
He set a bomb about a lack of cohesion within the club and then walked away. Upon questioning about his comments at his subsequent media briefing he would typically minimize it and almost contradict what he said.
Internal issues? Not at all, all are united, he'd claim. It looked like Rodgers was engaging in a dangerous game.
Earlier this year there was a story in a newspaper that purportedly came from a source associated with the club. It claimed that the manager was damaging Celtic with his open criticisms and that his true aim was managing his exit strategy.
He desired not to be there and he was arranging his way out, that was the implication of the story.
Supporters were enraged. They then saw him as similar to a sacrificial figure who might be carried out on his shield because his directors wouldn't support his plans to achieve triumph.
The leak was damaging, of course, and it was meant to hurt him, which it did. He demanded for an investigation and for the guilty person to be dismissed. If there was a probe then we heard no more about it.
At that point it was plain the manager was losing the backing of the individuals above him.
The frequent {gripes
A tech enthusiast and lifestyle blogger with a passion for sharing practical insights and inspiring creativity in everyday life.
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