HAY: WISE UP AND GROW UP LEIGH
Leigh’s Linfield scarf stunt below the standards expected of a Celtic player
LEIGH GRIFFITHS has knuckled down on the park over the last six months or so but the time has come for him to knuckle down off it now.
The boy has shown enough resolve and ability to be a part of Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic team on the pitch but he needs to wisen up as to how a Celtic player behaves.
Before anyone starts, let’s not condone anyone who throws a bottle, or coins, or cups or whatever.
But tying a scarf around a post is not becoming of a Celtic player, quite frankly.
You wear a Celtic shirt and are proud to be a Celtic player then what comes with that is a certain code of conduct and that is not it.
I understand his anger after being pelted by missiles but in an environment like that, there is nothing to be gained from acting the way he did in Belfast last Friday night.
It was pointless and nonsensical and does no-one any favours.
I get that there are elements of the support who will lap it up but in the eyes of those who matter at the club he is making life way more difficult than it needs to be.
Brendan Rodgers was relatively diplomatic with how he handled questions about Griffiths in the aftermath of the incident but I can guarantee you that there will have been a few words said privately.
Behind closed doors there will have been a message delivered quite clearly.
I certainly hope so, because frankly it is something that has to be said.
People talk of devilment in footballers, but that is on the pitch.
That is a completely different kettle of fish to how you behave when the game is not going on and how you present yourself.
The frustrating thing is that the lad himself has shown a willingness to get his head around a new regime at Celtic – and we all saw the benefits of it.
Griffiths put in an impressive performance at Hampden in June this year when, goals apart, his whole game was excellent.
There is no question that his all-round play has improved hugely under Rodgers, his awareness of his position has improved and if you can do that and score 20 goals while playing second fiddle to the first- choice striker, then you have something going for you. In a purely football sense, I would still have opted for Moussa Dembele ahead of Griffiths, but what I would say is it might not have been quite so straightforward a choice as it was at some stages last season.
So to go and risk his place now with a suspension is mind-boggling.
He could lose his place in the team and for what? Celtic had already done their talking on the pitch, where it matters.
The way they dominated both legs against Linfield underlined their superiority and that is all you need at this stage.
You don’t need to get in- volved in anything else. Go out, play your football and let it speak volumes for what you are about.
Throughout the history of Celtic there is a stature that goes with players and the best players on it carry themselves with a dignity off it.
MY ONLY advice to Griffiths would be to take that on board before he ends up shooting himself in the foot one too many times.
The European campaign is up and running with Celtic’s first stage hurdled with ease.
That is what the chat should have been about rather than incidents that we saw.
In terms of the football on offer, however, at this stage of the season you can already see the difference in Celtic from where they were this time 12 months ago.
There is a confidence about them and given where they are at this stage of the season, you would expect them to kick on from here and improve again as the games keep coming.
Olivier Ntcham, Celtic’s most expensive player for a decade, showed up particularly well in Wednesday night’s 4-0 win over Linfield.
And given that he has barely had a chance to get his feet in the door and get a proper preseason under his belt, it is fair to say that there is much more
still to come from the e 21-year-old.
Meanwhile, Emilio Izaguirre e has completed a move away y from Celtic to Saudi Arabian n side Al-Fayha. You would havee to say that the Honduran interrnationalist was a fabulous servvant to Celtic with an exemplary y attitude and work-ethic.
You have to remember that t he was Player of the Year whenn he first arrived but he wass hindered by a serious leg break k and then, latterly, by the outtstanding development of f Kieran Tierney.
I am sure he will head withh the best wishes of everyone e associated with the club after r giving a significant part of his s career to the club.