Celtic forward Leigh Griffiths says he is grateful to former manager Brendan Rodgers for the way he acted during some of his darkest days. The 28-year-old missed the entire second-half of last season after going through personal issues.
Griffiths made a scoring return to the Celtic team in Wednesday’s 6-1 friendly victory over Pinkafeld. And after getting back to what he does best, the striker took time to reflect on an immensely difficult period of his life.
The Daily Record have some quotes from the Scotland forward.
“I did try to battle through it”, Griffiths says. “I felt I had to. It’s my job. I can’t just phone up one day and say I’m not training.
“But that’s why I was grateful to the manager. He saw it and gave me the time off I needed.
“Coming into work was probably a relief for me. It’s a bit personal but it was about my mental health. My mental health wasn’t right. A lot of things were playing on my mind.
“The weeks and months started to take their toll and I think Brendan could see that
“So he spoke to me and he told the club, ‘We need to give this guy time off and make sure he is right.’
Griffiths can rediscover best form
Whatever Griffiths problems were, it’s clear that he’s in a better place now. The forward hasn’t been rushed back into the first-team and Rodgers, Neil Lennon and Celtic board members deserve credit for that.
The seriousness of Griffiths’ problems had to be fully appreciated and thankfully they were. Now hopefully the striker can kick on from his strike and performance against Pinkafeld.
Griffiths didn’t seem to be lacking confidence while on the pitch on Wednesday, and that bodes well for Celtic in the coming months.
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