Griffiths: I fear career may be over

LEIGH GRIFFITHS has admitted his career may be over — and has opened up on the ‘massive mistake’ which led to his Celtic departure. The 32-year-old former Scotland striker has been without a club for the past five months following the expiry of a short-term deal with semi-pro outfit Mandurah City in the Australian third tier. Griffiths has been training with Livingston recently, although boss David Martindale has made it clear that no deal is likely to be offered. It has been a sharp fall from grace for a player who scored well over 100 goals for Celtic during an eight-year stint at the club, winning 14 major honours along the way. Griffiths had spells with Dundee and Falkirk last season, before making the move to Australia. But he now admits it could be time to call it a day. Speaking to BBC Scotland, he

said: ‘The longer it goes on, I think: “Is football for me any more?” ‘I’ve been without a club for five months now and, although Davie [Martindale, Livi boss] has said I can come in and train with them, he has said there is no deal on the table. ‘I’m still not seeing managers pick up the phone, which means do they want me at their club or is it time to call it a day? That is something I’m still considering at the minute. ‘As a free agent, you’ve not got a budget, you’ve not got a price-tag on your head, everything is still negotiable. ‘I’ve got an 11-year-old son who keeps asking me when I’m going to be back playing football again and it’s a difficult one to answer. I just say I’m training as hard as I can and hopefully a club comes calling soon.’ Ange Postecoglou took the decision to send Griffiths (right) home from a preseason training camp last year amid some damaging allegations. It was claimed the striker had sent inappropriate messages to two schoolgirls. After a full assessment police decided there had been no criminality, but Griffiths admits it was a huge mistake which ultimately led to him leaving Celtic. ‘I think that was probably the lowest point for me. I hold my hands up, I regret what I did,’ he said. ‘It went to the right people behind the scenes, from Celtic, the authorities, the law, and I have proved that there was no wrongdoing. But for me it is still a massive mistake and a massive regret.’