Leigh Griffiths claims that one bad 45 minutes against St Mirren in January led to him being dropped by Neil Lennon and John Kennedy.
The striker seems confident of getting a new contract from Ange Postecoglou and a part to play in Celtic’s rebuild.
Yesterday the Australian arrived at Lennoxtown to discover hands on exactly what he is taking on.
The Invincible season of 2016/17 is the recent high-water mark for any Celtic side but when the new term gets underway only a handful of that squad will still be available for selection.
Griffiths contributed 18 goals to that season as back-up to Moussa Dembele with a least a similar return required in the new season if he gets his new contract.
Yesterday the striker spoke to Radio Scotland with The Sun reporting:
I’m fit. I said it towards the end of last season, if you’re fit enough to be on the bench then you’re fit enough to play games. At times, Celtic were losing or drawing games and needed a goal and I was the one brought on to make that impact.
I did it away to Aberdeen and then I was thinking I’ve not had a lot of minutes during the season so in the games towards the end of the season when the league was finished – for example against St Johnstone at home, we were winning 3-0 at the time and I got 17 minutes.
That’s what was coming out of the club but I’m thinking to myself, if you’re not fit then you’re not going to be part of the squad until you are. That’s my take on it. You’d have to ask the coaches at Celtic or Lenny why he didn’t think I was fit.
Given the run I had after the Scottish Cup Final in December, I played six or seven on the bounce. I had a run of games in December/January time and I messaged him after he was let go, and said there was one bad 45 minutes against St Mirren when we got beat at home.
I had a bad 45 minutes, yeah, but I wasn’t the only one. And after that I wasn’t seen again until the Falkirk game nearly two months later. That was the last game I started
Celtic returned for pre-season training last Thursday but so far there has been no pictures or videos showing Griffiths with the squad.
