Leigh Griffiths now running out of last chances at Celtic

Striker’s failure to keep fit during lockdown is a slap in the face for Neil Lennon

Leigh Griffiths is in the bad books at Celtic after failing to maintain adequate fitness levels during lockdown. Picture: SNS

Leigh Griffiths may be about to discover that there is only so long 
one man can prop up the bar in football’s Last Chance Saloon.

The striker’s Celtic career has been in jeopardy before, of course, but the uncompromising tenor of Neil Lennon’s verbal dressing down of his errant star this week suggested the manager’s reservoir of patience has finally run dry.

Griffiths’ failure to follow the club’s training programmes and maintain adequate fitness levels during lockdown is unquestionably a slap in the face for Lennon, who clearly felt he had little option but to axe the 29-year-old from the Scottish champions’ pre-season preparations in Loughborough and France.

Certainly, no-one could accuse either Lennon as an individual or Celtic as a club of not providing Griffiths with all of the help and support they possibly can in a bid to resolve the personal and 
professional demons which have all too often plagued him.

Six years ago, for example, Lennon put a protective arm around Griffiths when the player he signed from Wolves was charged for singing an offensive song which described former Hearts favourite Rudi Skacel as “a 
refugee”.

“We will do all we can to help him along,” said Lennon, who was approaching the end of his first spell as Celtic boss at the time. “He knows now there is a responsibility to the way he behaves.”

But that lesson has simply never been fully learned by Griffiths. He was chided by Lennon’s successor, Ronny Deila, who warned him pointedly he must become “a 24-hour athlete”. Brendan Rodgers, whose intervention saw Griffiths take an extended break from football to address mental health issues in 2018-19, advised him to “lie low and take responsibility for himself”.

Chief executive Peter Lawwell has gone out of his way to try and get Griffiths on the right track off the field, along with the club’s safeguarding officer Tom Dickson whose input was gratefully acknowledged by the Scotland international earlier this year. Celtic even assisted Griffiths with a house move from the east coast to just outside Glasgow as part of a comprehensive plan to improve his well-being.

A hugely likeable but clearly
complex character, Griffiths has shown plenty of resilience in repeatedly reviving a Celtic career which has delivered 115 goals in 233 appearances. But Lennon has clearly reached the end of his 
tether with a cycle of behaviour which tends to include the kind of facile social media posts from Griffiths which formed part of the 
manager’s startling expression of public discontent with the player on Thursday night.

“We’ve done everything we possibly could for him,” said Lennon. “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.”

If those words don’t resonate clearly with Griffiths right now, then no amount of motivational quotes he gleans from Rocky 
movies or anywhere else are going to help him this time.

He will be 30 next month and is very much at the stage of his career where any deficiencies in physical conditioning are much harder to repair.

On the eve of a potentially historic season for Celtic, Griffiths’ hopes of playing any kind of role in the quest for ten-in-a-row are in serious doubt. The positive early pre-season impressions being made by 21-year-old Polish striker Patryk Klimala pose an additional barrier to his prospects of getting back in Lennon’s good books.

After scoring eight goals in 13 games at the end of last season, Griffiths had all the momentum necessary to enjoy a prolific 2020-21 with Celtic and to force his way back into the Scotland squad for a tilt at next summer’s Euro finals.

Instead, a basic lack of professionalism may mean Griffiths has run out of last chances.

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