After returning from his busman’s holiday to Australia, the former Celtic striker remains without a club despite being on the look-out for a new place to play his football for five months. And the former Scotland striker is slowly but surely coming to the conclusion that football might no longer be for him as the phone simply refuses to ring for the once prolific Celtic striker.
It’s hard not to have some sympathy for the predicament that Griffiths finds himself in but you can also see why manager’s even at smaller clubs aren’t really prepared to take the risk with the 32 year-old given a track record that should really have improved with maturity.
The last manager to show real faith in Leigh Griffiths was probably Ange Postecoglou who despite hearing about the problems with the striker that contributed to the collapse in Celtic’s season during the Covid lockdown year, still had the generosity to give Griffiths a contract extension to prove himself all over again.
The reward for that gesture quickly blew up in the Celtic manager’s face when Griffiths never even made it through pre-season training before being involved in controversy, which led to an enquiry relating to messages sent digitally to two young girls. That enquiry eventually cleared Griffiths of any wrongdoing but the consequences were severe as it effectively brought an end to his time at Celtic, after the support made their feelings known when Griffiths was brought on in a pre-season match.
He was shipped out to Dundee, where more controversy followed after an incident with travelling St Johnstone fans and were his previous form seemed to have deserted him. And after dropping down the leagues to play at Falkirk, nothing longer term came from that before a short cameo in the lower levels of Australian football with Mandurah City followed. Griffiths found the back of the net there but also got into a moment of controversy arguing with a Mandurah City supporter at the match.
"The longer I'm without a club I think, 'is football for me anymore?'"
Former Celtic and Scotland striker Leigh Griffiths speaks about being out in the football wilderness. #BBCFootball
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) October 31, 2022
Last night in an interview shown on BBC Sportscene, he talked about being a goalscorer but not being able to compete with the likes of Scott Brown (now manager at Fleetwood Town) and Callum McGregor, as if the problems facing Griffiths a few years ago are still causing him sleepless nights.
Thanks to Leigh Griffiths for his very candid, frank and honest interview.
The former Celtic and Scotland striker opens up over his mistakes, his regrets and his future.
Sportscene 7:15pm ⏰
BBC Scotland Channel 📺@BBCSportScot https://t.co/4auLgfrEwW pic.twitter.com/K69CMmdNTL— Jonathan Sutherland (@MrJonSutherland) October 30, 2022
“The longer it goes on I think, ‘Is football for me anymore? I’ve been without a club for five months now and, although Davie Martindale has said I can come in and train with them, he has said there is no deal on the table.
“I’m still not seeing managers pick up the phone, which means do they want me at their club or is it time to call it a day? That is something I’m still considering at the minute. As a free agent you’ve not got a budget, you’ve not got a price-tag on your head, everything is still negotiable.
“I’ve got an 11-year old son who keeps asking me when I’m going to be back playing football again, and it’s a difficult one to answer. I just say I’m training as hard as I can and hopefully a club comes calling soon.”
That exit from Celtic weighs heavily on his shoulders and he knows he’s got no-one to blame but himself. Ange Postecoglou could not have been more generous to Leigh Griffiths than he was and as a club Celtic always did their best for the player, going way beyond what is normally needed to support the striker through an earlier difficult period in his life.
“I think that was probably the lowest point for me. I hold my hands up, I regret what I did. It went to the right people behind the scenes, from Celtic, the authorities, the law, and I have proved that there was no wrong doing. But for me it is still a massive mistake and a massive regret.
“Even yesterday, I got abuse when I was training at Livingston. People just standing at the top of the hill wanting to stand and abuse me. I can’t do anything. I can’t go out to the shops. That’s the narrative, that’s the stigma you have when you’re playing with one side of the Old Firm (sic).
“Don’t get me wrong, there are plus sides as well. Celtic fans still come up to me and say they miss me, which is always nice to hear. There’s always that flip of the coin.”
Whether Leigh Griffiths finds a new club or not remains to be seen. Maybe after yesterday’s disappointing performance against Celtic for shot-shy Livingston David Martindale might just fancy a wee rethink and give Griffiths one final chance to get back to scoring goals. Martindale appears to have the man-management skills required to gt the best out of Griffiths and knows more than most about the benefits of being given another chance, given his own past misdemeanours, or is that putting things too mildly?
It would be decent shout though if Livingston did sign Leigh Griffiths and for his sake let’s hope that they do.
I always liked. Griffith’s as a player .I don’t know, anything about him but believe he still has something to offer and. Hope to see him back in the game.