Scotland assistant manager James McFadden has decided to reopen the row with Leigh Griffiths live on Radio Scotland!
Since his recent brush with HMRC the former Motherwell midfielder has been on the media circuit with regular appearances on BBC Scotland and Sky Sports.
Griffiths has been the subject of intense speculation since the first international of the season with Michael Stewart highly critical of the way the situation has been handled by the Scotland management team.
After being picked to play as the lone striker against Belgium the hoops striker watched Steven Naismith and Jonny Russell start against Albania with Alex McLeish saluting the Hearts striker as his first choice after scoring in the 2-0 win over Albania.
Stewart has also claimed that Griffiths was the fall guy for the 4-0 defeat from Belgium with McFadden eager to deny that accusation:
“There wasn’t a falling out, there was not a falling out,” he told the BBC while during a studio debate.
“I actually got in touch with Michael (Stewart) because Leigh Griffiths was not singled out. He was not hammered in the dressing room and it’s fine having an opinion on what happened but you can’t just make things up.”
Pushed about Griffiths calling off from the defeats to Israel and Portugal McFadden added: “There’s no more in terms of he’s been hammered and he’s in the huff and he doesn’t want to come.
“Leigh Griffiths phoned late in the day I think to say he was going to go and work on his fitness. Subsequently he’s been injured after his first training session that he was trying to get fit. And he’s been ill since.
“So clearly there’s been something wrong in terms of his fitness and Brendan Rodgers has been very vocal about it and the level required for him to play for Celtic and Scotland.
“So fair play to him he’s come out and said I want to be fitter and make sure that he is the number one pick in the team.
“It was all very amicable. I don’t know if he was in a huff but he made the decision that he wanted to work on his fitness.”
Scotland’s next international is away to Albania on November 17.
