Leigh Griffiths feared Celtic would give up on him

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Leigh Griffiths has opened up on mental health and stated that he feared Celtic would move on from him.

The deadly Hoops striker put in a masterful performance in front of the Lennoxtown media yesterday. He dealt with a substantial number of questions about his time away from the game as well as mental health concerns in general.

Griffiths missed seven months of last season due to personal issues that now seem to have eased. The striker has returned and fired home six goals in four pre-season games, and looks like he’s ready to get going competitively once again.

But, in a show of real humbleness, Griffiths stated that he feared his club would drop him due to his lack of time on the playing field. Speaking to the Daily Record, Griff opened up on the concerns.

“Taking time off it could have been easy for the club to cut ties altogether and say ‘look we’ll give you time off but in the summer it’s best if we go our separate ways’. It was a worry for me. I’m not going to lie. But it shows what this club is all about. It’s not just about looking out for itself.

“It’s about looking out for the players. They don’t want me to just play for Celtic. They want me to be okay after I finish my football career.

“I’m not fully over my problems but I have made giant strides to overcome it. It is not fully away yet, but the more I speak out and the more I speak to people who are helping me and have helped me along the way I won’t be too far away.”

Mental health awareness only helped by Griffiths comments

If you haven’t seen his broadcast presser, you can view it now on Celtic TV. Griffiths opens up on mental health and does his best to increase awareness regarding one of our country’s most serious dangers.

And it shows just how vulnerable Griff was at the time of his absence from the game too. There never seemed to be any chance of Celtic letting him go. The club has continuously backed the striker since he took time off last December.

You can now see, both on and off the pitch, that Griffiths is a changed man. He looks incredibly happy on the pitch, and even though he claims he isn’t fully over his own personal problems, you can see in his attitude that great strides have been taken. If you compare his vibe from now compared to the tail-end from last year, there’s a colossal difference.

You can’t have a go at the media for asking Griffiths about it either. Celtic wouldn’t have sent their star-man out to face them if he wasn’t ready to talk. And at the end of the day, all it’s done is increase awareness. Fair play to Griffiths and the journalists present for carrying out an important presser.

Now, we’ll hopefully start seeing the best of Griff in the Champions League qualifiers. He’s a huge doubt to start against Nomme Kalju tomorrow given the form of Odsonne Edouard. But, at the very least, hopefully we see a cameo appearance from Scotland’s deadliest striker.