Fortunately for Ange Postecoglou, he has inherited some decent attacking reinforcements in his role at Paradise; otherwise the current debate around the personal issues which continue to plague Leigh Griffiths’ private life would have made life 10 times harder for the newly appointed Australian boss.
Having come back from a fitness-bereft season, Griffiths was offered a new one-year contract by the Aussie, with the hope that his finishing talents would at least be of some use in aiming to claim back the title that Celtic have seen become their rightful own over the past decade. Some fans even turned their nose up at the one-year deal, but as a player who had given Celtic so much in the first-half of his tenure at Paradise, it was acknowledged as a deserved last-chance saloon for Griff.
Then came this summer’s big scandal of Griffiths allegedly sending inappropriate messages to underage girls. Police Scotland cleared him of any wrongdoing, but Celtic fans alike had had enough of his antics – too many negative media stories in comparison with his exploits on the pitch meant it has now become the final straw for Griff at Celtic – as seen by the many boos which rang around in the 6-2 humiliation dished out by West Ham at the weekend.
It appears that Griff still won’t be able to contribute to a competitive fixture for the foreseeable, either – as a report by The Daily Record suggests he hasn’t travelled to Denmark to face Midtjylland in Wednesday’s clash after a reoccurrence of a calf injury which has clouded his fitness issues over the years.
It leaves just Odsonne Edouard – who appears to be on his way out of the club to Brighton following the game in Denmark – and Albian Ajeti to lead the line, as Kyogo Furuhashi isn’t yet out of quarantine following a £3.8million move from Japanese outfit Vissel Kobe.
With Ajeti low on fitness due to his omission against the Hammers, and Edouard not putting in the performances he is capable of with his head seemingly half-turned, Celtic aren’t exactly blessed with striking consistency at the moment; it seems once again it will have to be Liel Abada to fire Celtic to glory.