Ange Postecoglou broke the news at the club’s media conference last Thursday – which was attended by The Celtic Star – that Leigh Griffiths’ time at Celtic had come to an end with the player now free to look at other opportunities. This rumbled on throughout the build-up to last night’s 2-0 win over Hibs at Celtic Park with even a few of the tabloids claiming ‘exclusives’ on the story that Griffiths had been released by Celtic so would not be coming back from his faltering loan spell at Dundee.
Kris Commons in a damning column yesterday listed the managers who have had good reason to question Griffiths for his lack of professionalism dating back to Ronny Delia at Celtic and including every Hoops boss up to an including Ange Postecoglou as well as the current Dundee and Scotland managers. You can read what Commons had to say below.
READ THIS…“He’s not behaved like a professional,” Commons in scathing criticism of Leigh Griffiths
Last night Sky Sports sought confirmation from Ange Postecoglou on whether the one year contract extension that Postecoglou had sanctioned in the summer had indeed been terminated by the club and accordingly Griffiths was now a free agent.
“He can look back on his Celtic career with great pride.”
Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou confirms striker Leigh Griffiths’ career at the club is over and has wished the striker well for the future. pic.twitter.com/MFh8BdIlMD
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) January 17, 2022
“I think it has come to an end, yeah,” Ange told Sky Sports. “Leigh is now looking for the next chapter of his career. An outstanding football career at Celtic but all of us kind of pass through clubs.
“You want to leave a mark when you do and Leigh has certainly done that. I think he can look back on his Celtic career with great pride and he goes on to the next chapter of his football career.”
Dundee had initially sought to return Griffiths to Celtic using their break option in the loan deal agreed in the summer but the termination of his principal contract changes things and will allow Dundee to consider the player on a permanent, although maybe short-term contract, at a fraction of the cost hitherto being paid – Griffiths will have had a satisfactory payment agreed with Celtic re the final 5 months of his deal.
The Dundee manager James McPake, a close friend of Griffiths, certainly isn’t ruling this out. Speaking ahead of their crucial game against Livingston this evening McPake said: “Leigh has trained over the past few days and has been working hard, he’s in the squad. When players like Leigh Griffiths pop up, you’re always interested, our focus as a club is on the game at Livingston.
“The situation is what it is, I can’t speak on behalf of Celtic, hopefully he goes and has a positive impact in our team. He’s showing a desire to kick-start his career of late with that free-kick away to Aberdeen and scored in a bounce game last week against Forfar.
“That goal against Aberdeen is something Leigh has done all his career, he’s a player that loves scoring goals and enjoying his football. When you get Griffiths scoring goals then you’re getting a good player and we need to add more goals into him in the second half of the season.”
