Leigh Griffiths was a superb striker for Celtic during his time at Paradise winning a plethora of silverware over eight seasons.
Now loving life in Australia coaching with Stirling Macedonia, Griffiths was reflecting back on his time at Celtic with former Hoops striker Frank McAvennie.
Ange Postecoglou allowed Griffiths to leave Celtic in 2022, but it seems that the former Scotland striker almost saw his Parkhead exit a lot sooner than that.
Was Leigh Griffiths underappreciated at Celtic?
Under Ronny Deila, Griffiths flourished at Celtic, but it could have been so very different if the Norwegian didn’t have a change of heart on transfer deadline day.
Leigh Griffiths almost left Celtic for Hibs on transfer deadline day
Neil Lennon brought Griffiths to Celtic in 2014 and over eight seasons, he scored 123 goals in 261 appearances.
But that might never have happened for Griffiths had Ronny Deila not stopped a Celtic exit to Hibs in 2014.
Griffiths told the Let Me Be Frank podcast, “A lot of people don’t know this but I was actually heading out on loan on the last day of the transfer window really where I was heading to, ironically enough, back to Hibs.
“So I’d cleared my locker, all my boots and stuff were in the house and I was actually meant to be meeting the team on the Monday afternoon because the loan was getting finalised.
“They were at Ibrox that night. They ended up beating Rangers 3-2. So I was meant to be going to the hotel to meet them.
“Taxi and stuff was there ready to go to be in the squad and Kendo [John Kennedy] phoned me and said the manager’s had a change of heart. He wants to have a chat with you tomorrow.
“And I was like right okay. Disappointed because I told him I wanted to go and play. But he pulled me in the Tuesday and said, ‘Listen there’s an under 23s in the Premier Cup’ or something, and they had Sunderland away, he’s like ‘You can play in that get some minutes and then obviously we’ll see where you’re at’.
“I said, ‘Listen I want to play games, I’m ready to go’. So somebody picked me up at the house to travel down to play Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
“I played the game, we won 2-1, scored twice and I was always in the squad, from that I went on to finish top goalscorer on 20 goals.”
Leigh Griffiths’ remarkable goal record at Celtic including wonder strike vs Rangers
With 123 career goals for Celtic, Griffiths won seven league titles, three Scottish Cups and six League Cups.
Griffiths was also integral to Celtic winning the Invincibles Trebles and scored four goals against Rangers as the Bhoys battered the Ibrox club regularly under Brendan Rodgers.
His goal in this rout at Ibrox as Celtic hammered Rangers 5-1 was something special.
Was Griffiths underappreciated at Celtic? Let us know in the TalkingPoint above.
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