NEIL LENNON has launched a stinging put down to Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths after last night’s 1-1 draw with OGC Nice in Lyon. The manager of the Scottish Champions said that if Griffiths is to have a future at the club then he would be better served focusing on football rather than than social media posts.
As reported by the Scottish Sun, the manager was not impressed with Griffiths’ social media presence when he reported to Celtic training overweight. Griffiths was not invited to the Loughborough training camp nor the French friendlies, instead given the task of remaining at Lennoxtown to focus on getting himself fit.
“I’m not happy. I think that’s fairly obvious by the fact that we’ve left him behind.
“He’s come back out of condition and overweight. Any physical work we asked him to do he was coming out of saying he was injured.
“That’s going to be the case because he’s out of condition.
“So it would have been absolutely pointless bringing him with us. We had an extensive week in Loughborough and he wouldn’t have been fit to play the games here in France.
“The ball is firmly in his court now in terms of getting himself in the right condition.”
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.
Although the manager isn’t impressed with what the 28-year-old has been up to online, using his Instagram to post motivational messages whilst disrespecting his teammates and the staff by turning up unfit.
“He needs to stop all the social media nonsense with all these slogans he puts out there. It’s not the real world we all live in.
“The boys here are all top professionals and I have a great staff who are all professional as well. They deserve better and he should know better.
“He needs to get his head down and get fit because that’s what we pay him for.
“We’ve done everything we possibly could for him. He had a long lay-off and came back to get back into the team. For me he was still a bit short fitness-wise but had enough to get through the Scottish games.
“But if he wants to have a future here at the club it’s down to himself.
“We’re not prepared to do a lot more for him. Everything’s there for him. He’s let himself down and he’s let us down.
“You can never say never about chances but he’s got a lot to do to get back in around it.
“The ball is firmly in his court and it shouldn’t have come to this. He shouldn’t have been out of condition and he shouldn’t have been heavier.”
Griffiths allowed Patryk Klimala to come in and score a goal in the club’s opening pre-season fixture. Klimala used the lockdown period to get himself in shape ahead of the new season and the attitude he displayed will have impressed the management team.
Celtic are level! 🍀
A howler from the Nice keeper, but credit to Patryk Klimala for applying the pressure and the finish 👏 pic.twitter.com/Z2N5dUAQBW
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) July 16, 2020
Lennon may use this scathing putdown of Griffiths as a cunning ploy to give the striker the fire in his belly to go and prove the manager and the doubters wrong. He is a player that thrives on big occasions and with Celtic going for 10IAR there are not many bigger, Griffiths should listen to the manager and get himself fit and ready for the new season.
