‘Nobody better than fully-fit Griffiths
be digging the boots out again for the Star Sixes event at the SSE Hydro in January.
Donnelly will be a member of the Scotland team skippered by Barry Ferguson which takes part in the star-studded event that involves all four home nations, the Republic of Ireland and a Rest of the World select captained by Robert Pires.
He said: “The last event was one of the best experiences I’ve had in football.
“It was really enjoyable and it was competitive. We went over on the bus to that first game and it was if we were going to the World Cup. You had that bit of fire in the belly again and it was brilliant.
“Unfortunately, we peaked in the first game! Typical Scottish.
“But now we know what we’ve let ourselves in for, not to say we weren’t fit the last time, but we’re definitely going to get together and we want to make a good fist of this. We want to get to the final.”
0 Former Celtic forward Simon Donnelly shows that he has not lost his ball skills as he promotes Simon Donnelly has insisted that peace must break out between Leigh Griffiths and Alex Mcleish for the sake of Scotland’s Nations League hopes.
Griffiths, unhappy at losing his place but citing fitness reasons, withdrew from the national team squad for the ill-fated qualifier in Israel last Thursday and the friendly defeat by Portugal last Sunday.
The Celtic striker lost his place to Steven Naismith for the Albania qualifier in September and felt he was harshly treated by Mcleish who confirmed that Naismith would start the Israel game, which ended in a humiliating 2-1 defeat.
Thescotsnowneedadrawor a win in Albania on 17 November, then a win at Hampden against Israel three days later to win their section.
Success would put them into a one-off semi-final. Victory there would progress them to the Group C final which carries qualification to Euro 2020.
Donnelly believes it would be counter-productive if Griffiths, in full flow, was not involved in these matches.
Indeed, he feels the very hopes of qualification could lie in the balance if the 29-times capped striker is not used.
Donnelly said: “I don’t think anyone should turn their back on their nation – although I don’t think that’s what he did. I don’t think he was fully fit.
“I work at Celtic Park on matchdays and I have seen him in fits and starts. He needs to be playing regularly and he needs to be fully fit.
“A fully-fit Leigh Griffiths is an asset for Celtic and an asset for Scotland.
“Whether there are personal problems there I don’t know. I don’t know the ins and outs of Scotland.
“But, for me, in football terms if you can get the ball to a fully-fit Leigh Griffiths in the final third he has shown time and time and again that nine times out of ten he will