The crucial moment in Apocalypse Now comes when Willard finally confronts Kurtz in his jungle compound and the colonel, who we’ve travelled up a dark river to meet, asks why the army man has been sent there, by the American top brass, to terminate his command.
“They said your methods had become unsound,” Willard tells him.
“Have my methods become unsound?” Kurtz asks. It’s a stupid question and Willard treats it like one, amidst the bodies and beheadings and general chaos of the other man’s dark lair.
“I don’t see any method at all,” Willard tells him.
And I feel a little bit like that tonight as the news filters through that we’ve accepted a near seven figure bid for Lewis Morgan.
Wasn’t this the guy who was deemed good enough to start up front in a cup final not that long ago?
Which of these decisions looks insane? Letting him leave for such a paltry sum or trusting him with one the biggest games of our season if this is how we valued him inside Celtic Park? I am baffled and like Willard, it is tempting to suggest that we’re watching madness not method.
What in God’s name is going on at Celtic?
We’re now weaker by two first team players and aside from internet rumours, where are the signings? If the best of those rumours is to be believed Ismail Soro, the defensive midfielder, will be the first signing of this window.
He’s a strong footballer, solid and capable, in an area of the pitch where we need reinforcements. Matthew Marr commented on the need for warriors in his earlier piece, and this guy would tick that box. If the stories are right. If the rumours are on the nose.
What puzzles me tonight is the way Morgan was promoted by the manager and the coaches, his starting in front of Sinclair, tried on the left, on the right and through the middle … they clearly believed in him. Is it possible that recent performances have dismayed them as much as us?
If so, this is a pretty ruthless move from the management team … it should be a message to other people that we will not be carrying passengers into the second half of the campaign.
If that’s the message, then I approve of it.
Because Morgan was clearly not up to the level required from a Celtic player in this time and place, and it is comforting that the coaching staff has come to that conclusion, even if somewhat belatedly. I am surprised it isn’t a loan deal, but reports suggest he turned that down and wanted a permanent move.
If so then he’s welcome to depart, and we should wish him well whilst realising that his decision is an admission of defeat. It is the mark of exactly the type of mentality Matthew lamented earlier in his article, and the type we should be rooting out of the team.
But it is typical of Celtic that the first signs of life in this window should be two players going out instead of coming in. It must be galling for Sinclair – it is certainly galling to me – to see one of the people who was keeping him out of the team (and unfairly in my view) getting set to leave the club after he’d already gone.
That just adds to the overall sense of disconnect I feel reading tonight’s news.
You get the feeling that there has to be some kind of plan here, some kind of strategy being followed, but it speaks volumes that none of us would be terribly surprised if this is yet another shambles, evolving before our eyes, leading to more questions than answers.
We’ve heard this record before.
I cannot imagine anything that damns this board more than to say that nobody in our support will be shocked – appalled maybe, but not shocked – if this is only the start of our frustrations, that this window will do nothing more than reinforce the view that some of the people at our own club are charlatans treating us with contempt.