Leigh Griffiths left out of Scotland squad ‘for his own good’, says Steve Clarke

Steve Clarke has stressed that Leigh Griffiths’ absence from the Scotland squad is for the player’s own good after the manager made a late decision to exclude him for the forthcoming games with Russia and Belgium.

Substitute Leigh Griffiths ahead of Celtic's game against Hearts. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS

Clarke pondered the dilemma overnight on Monday before opting to delay the Celtic player’s return a little longer following his well-publicised personal problems.

That means Griffiths will have been absent from the international set up for over a year if he makes his comeback in the next Euro 2020 qualifying double header against Russia and San Marino in October. He last played for Scotland in the 2-0 win over Albania in September.

“I don’t think that he’s quite fully fit and firing in the way that he can do,” said Clarke, who spoke to members of Celtic’s management team before reaching his decision.

“And rather than put him under the pressure of bringing him into the squad, I’d rather give him a little bit more time to breathe to get fit at Celtic. Also, to get back to the level of sharpness that he needs to be to be a top player. That’s the only reason.

“But obviously I watch him, I keep an eye on him and hopefully he gets in the Celtic team and starts banging in a few more goals.

“You could call him in regardless,” he added. “But then you’d be putting the boy under even more pressure. But maybe at this stage he doesn’t need that. So we take that pressure away from him.”

Clarke reasoned that Steven Naismith’s availability reduced the need to rush Griffiths back. The Hearts striker has missed the last two matches for his club due to a hamstring injury but has declared himself fit for inclusion. He’s back in training with his club this week and is in line to win his 50th Scotland cap against Russia next Friday.

Clarke has also recalled Robert Snodgrass after a period when it was unsure where the player stood with regards to his international career. He fell out of favour under Alex McLeish and is reported to have been upset at not even being on the bench for the 2-1 defeat to Israel in Haifa last year after agreeing to be a late call-up. The West Ham United player has not featured since.

“I had to speak to him, just to make sure that he was OK,” said Clarke. “He was fine. He was very, very enthusiastic when I spoke to him. He wanted to be involved.”

Clarke stressed that Steven Fletcher’s international career is not necessarily over after he was left out again. The pair spoke last week after the 32-year-old Sheffield Wednesday striker gave an interview to a local newspaper placing doubt on whether he could cope with the physical demands of playing for both club and country.

“I don’t close the door on anybody, even some of the ones I have spoken to that maybe have said: ‘no, I’m not going to come back’,” said the manager. “Why would I close the door if in the future they can help us? Steven Fletcher falls into that category.”