After Griffiths’ pre-match prep

Dundee fans – he still is – and has gone on to have a successful career for club and country, winning medal after medal for Celtic and scoring the famous free-kick double for Scotland against England.

And Douglas believes he learned a valuable lesson that winter’s afternoon at Dens.

“I’d be surprised if he has been late for another team meeting in his career after that,” he said.

“Be there early is the moral of the story. I bet it still sticks in his mind.

“Boys either need a cuddle or a grab – sometimes both – and at that point Sparky’s option was the grab.

“We’ve all made mistakes but he let himself and his team-mates down that day.

“I’ve been his biggest fan. I think the penny has dropped. It’s a short career and you need to be professional.

“As a player you have to give yourself the best opportunity in a game by preparing right. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sparky was like that with a young boy at Celtic if he saw things done wrong.

“We keep in touch and I certainly don’t hold it against him. I think it was after about a month I decided to start talking to him again!”

There was another Dens incident that Douglas remembers from that period but the team-mate he confronted on that occasion falls into a different category to Griffiths.

“I was a big team player,” he said. “I didn’t lose my rag often.

“The only other one I fell out with was Mickael Antoine-Curier.

He fell asleep in a team meeting and was then going to go for Ludo (Ludovic Roy). I made sure he didn’t get the chance.

“I didn’t have any time for him but Sparky, as I say, was a loveable wee rogue. There was a difference.”

defeat by Motherwell in the Scottish Cup.