Griffiths is fired up by fans’ anger

LEIGH GRIFFITHS says the ‘hurt’ of seeing Celtic fans protest against the club will spur players on to secure a tenth consecutive title. And he insists Neil Lennon’s quadruple Treble winners, fresh from their dramatic triumph in Sunday’s Scottish Cup final, are already focused on the next target — a hat-trick of league victories to build momentum heading to Ibrox in the New Year. Sixteen points behind Rangers with three games in hand, the reigning champions celebrated an incredible 12th consecutive trophy with victory over Hearts at Hampden. While Celtic supporters were celebrating that win, however, a small hard core have been vociferous — and

even violent — in their demands for change in the technical area and the boardroom. That ill will spilled over into ugly scenes outside Celtic Park following Betfred Cup elimination by Ross County at the beginning of the month. The Staggies, under new boss John Hughes, visit on league business tomorrow evening — with Griffiths admitting he’s looking for ‘revenge’ against the Highlanders. Addressing the fan fury directed at Lennon and his players in recent weeks, he confessed: ‘Of course it hurts us, as players, to see fans outside of Celtic Park protesting — because it wasn’t that long ago that those fans were cheering us on for winning the treble Treble. ‘The comments and stick we’ve been taking has been OTT at times. But, hopefully, that’s us turned the corner. ‘Yeah, results this season haven’t been great. But we have to stick with it. The league campaign is a marathon, not a sprint. ‘Going out of the Europa League was disappointing, of course, but the main focus is still to make sure we’re in that title race.’ After tomorrow night’s game, Celtic are away to Hamilton and at home to Dundee United before the page turns on 2020. Even if they win all three, their January 2 clash with Rangers at Ibrox already looks like a potential make-or-break fixture for Lennon and his team. ‘Of course we can win the league,’ declared Griffiths. ‘We know teams will come and make it hard for us, so we need to be in the right frame of mind. ‘That starts on Wednesday night, against Ross County. ‘We’ll be looking for a bit of revenge against them because they put us out of the Betfred Cup. ‘We are targeting nine out of nine points from those next games. They’re fixtures we look at and know we should be winning.’