FRANK MCAVENNIE has called for Celtic and the club’s supporters to give Leigh Griffiths ‘some slack’ after the 29-year-old striker was given a very public dressing down by Neil Lennon last week. Griffiths was told to stay at home while his Celtic teammates went to Loughborough and France after the striker reported for training out of shape.
Now, in his Scottish Sun column, McAvennie has backed the attacker to get himself fit ahead of the new season. The ex-Celtic and West Ham striker has been a vocal defender of Griffiths in the past and believes that the lockdown is an excuse for Griffiths’ fitness woes.
“Leigh Griffiths will be fit and ready for the start of the season — make no mistake about that.
“The Celtic striker was left behind to concentrate on his fitness while the rest of the squad flew to France.
“His boss Neil Lennon didn’t miss when he slaughtered him the other night but I’m sure he’ll be ready when the serious stuff starts.
“We’ve just come through the strangest four months any of us have experienced in our lifetimes — and that includes professional footballers.
“We faced unprecedented difficulties in lockdown and trying to keep super-fit while being told to stay indoors can’t have been easy.
“We all know that Leigh has faced more demons than most in recent years and keeping mentally as well as physically healthy will have been a challenge during the pandemic.
“Let’s cut him some slack — he knows what he has to do and I’m confident he’ll be raring to go when it matters.”
Lennon has been patient with Griffiths and managed to get him back to his best at the turn of the year. The last competitive match of the 2019/20 season resulted in a 5-0 win, courtesy of a hat-trick from Griffiths.
With 115 goals in 231 appearances for Celtic, Griffiths can still be a huge part of potentially record-breaking season. He needs to get himself fit and prove that he is worthy of a place in the side with Klimala and Bayo pushing for his place.
