LEIGH GRIFFITHS was at Celtic Park, along with 13,000 supporters on that sunny day in May 2016 to welcome the new manager to the club. Griffiths had just scored a remarkable 40 goals for Celtic in Ronny Deila’s final season in charge and surely was more responsible than anyone else for the Celtic winning a fifth successive title.
The Number 9 was at peak importance to Celtic, he was a huge asset to the club and was after a tricky start to his Celtic career, now very much a fans favourite.
Yet for one reason or another the striker never achieved that level of importance in a Celtic side managed by Rodgers. The Irishman often criticised the striker, suggestions about his fitness and so on were frequently made. When Griffiths showed some displeasure at being substituted at Firhill in Rodgers’ remarkable first season, an am was put around the striker publicly. It pays to play the nice guy, but Griffiths never did get a consistent run in a Rodgers selected Celtic side.
There were other factors. Moussa Dembele was signed almost immediately from Fulham with Celtic paying a small cross border development fee and the plan with the player and his agent was that the young French striker would be brought in, played and would then be sold on, making Celtic a huge profit if it all went to plan.
By the time the Rangers arrived at Celtic Park on 10 September 2016 the Celtic support were sweating over the fitness of their number 9 and the news on the morning of the match was bad. Griffiths wasn’t fit and the young Frenchman would lead the line.
Dembele grabbed his chance, scoring a hat-trick in a thrilling 5-1 victory and in doing so announced himself as the first choice striker at the club.
Griffiths was in and out of the team, on and off the bench but was never a regular starter. He did score a wonderful goal at Ibrox in the 5-1 win later in that remarkable season and started in the Scottish Cup Final win over Aberdeen with Dembele injured.
His two wonderful free-kicks for Scotland seemed to turn defeat into victory against England only for the win to be snatched away in the cruelest of circumstances. All his then Celtic team-mate Stuart Armstrong had to do was kick the ball out of the park and the game would have been over.
The lack of game time and the chance to get any consistency going were features of Griffiths next season for Celtic and although another Treble was secured, it wasn’t able to match the glorious Invincible year.
Odsonne Edouard had arrived on loan for the season from PSG and along with Dembele appeared to be ahead of Griffiths in the pecking order. In Ronny Deila’s last season he single handedly carried the team, now he was third choice striker.
Edouard was signed for £9million in the summer. Dembele was then sold to Lyon for just short of £20million but the frustrations of finding form and consistency while trying to beat the niggling injuries that seemed to re-emerge after he got back into the team, was proving a heavy burden for the Number 9 to carry.
He got back into the team against Hibs, scored early on then battered the Parkhead turf in frustration as his calf injury returned to haunt him. He’d be out for another period after that.
This season started and when he played he didn’t look himself at all when he was in the team. Then the news broke that he’d be dropping out of his work to deal with some personal problems. Rodgers said this:
“Leigh will be out of football for a little period of time.
“He’s had ongoing issues for a number of months. He’s reached a point where it’s a struggle for him.
“We are going to give him all the professional help he needs to get him back in a good place. He’s a great guy but football and life is tough for him right now.
“We want to help him with that and we’ll let you know when he’s back. I’m very close with him. We have a strong relationship but he’s had number of issues outside of football.”
Shortly afterwards Griffiths was photographed attending a horse-racing meeting with some friends in the North of England and this was splashed all over a tabloid. Rodgers was less than impressed and there was much more of an edge to his comments about the incident than perhaps was necessary.
Recently Griffiths has been undergoing some warm weather training with a view to a speedy return to the Celtic squad. The comments from his former team-mate Kris Commons this morning that Interim manager Neil Lennon has spoken to Griffiths more in the past few days that Rodgers has in the few months since Griffiths was signed off work, is telling.
As a club, Celtic had treated Griffiths very well indeed. He was given a new, long term contract, despite his lack of form or fitness and with the concerns from his personal life apparent and when it was decided that he should focus on improving this aspect of his life, the club put the necessary support on place for him. Griffiths knows all this and is appreciative.
You now get the feeling that the spring is back in his step. He will feel more loved, more wanted by Lenny that he ever did by Rodgers. Put it this way, the one headline that will never be written is that Rodgers is set to sign Griffiths.
The man management skills of Neil Lennon – and asa man he has suffered from similar problems himself – will hopefully bring the smile back to Griffiths’ face and there will be nothing more pleasing than seeing him back in a Celtic strip doing what he does best – scoring goals.
Haste ye back Leigh! Whenever you are ready!!!!
