Leigh Griffiths. Leigh bloody Griffiths.<\/p>\n
Thats the name that has divided the Celtic support over the last day or so.<\/p>\n
Neil Lennon has made a bid, reported to be around \u00a3400,000, and not surprisingly, Wolves have knocked it back.<\/p>\n
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Negotiations are “ongoing ” and Lennon is not giving up on the former Hibernian loanee.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a good player and I was very impressed with him last year,\u201d he said. \u201cWhenever we played Hibs you were always looking at him as a threat.”<\/p>\n
Well, Scott Brown was, but he stares at everyone. It apparently puts them off.<\/p>\n
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Probably more effective before he scores, though , Scott. Just a thought.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHis goal tally is impressive. Even though he\u2019s not playing at the minute he\u2019s still Wolves\u2019 leading scorer.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeigh is only 23 so he\u2019s the right age for us. That gives us a lot of scope. He\u2019s maybe not up to Champions League standard yet but it\u2019s up to us to turn him into that.<\/p>\n
\u201cNor was Gary Hooper and nor was Scott McDonald when they first came here but what they do is they get the confidence from playing for Celtic and scoring goals and, when the elevation to the Champions League comes, they believe they can play at that level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffiths scored 28-or 31-goals while at a struggling Hibs side, they got to two Cup finals, and its fair to say they weren’t a good side. Its also fair to say that without Griffiths this year they have struggled to score goals.<\/p>\n
Griffiths won the Scottish Football Writers Player of the Year, despite Lennon moaning that none of the nominees for that award would have got into his team. It seems he has changed his mind.<\/p>\n
Griffiths scores goals-he’s currently top scorer at Wolves even though he is no longer a first pick. Celtic do not have-Kris Commons apart-a recognised goalscorer. We don’t buy recognised goalscorers. Chris Sutton and John Hartson apart, forwards make their name at Celtic. Even Henrik Larsson would say later that he made his name at Celtic.<\/p>\n
Leigh Griffiths may not be the one that we want, but perhaps he is the one that we need. At 23, he has a lot to learn about being a footballer, but it seems he already knows how to be a goalscorer.<\/p>\n
Give him a chance.<\/p>\n
Lennon also spoke of the baggage that comes with Griffiths-presumably not hair products-and insists that he can live with and deal with that;<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has matured into a very good player. I know he has baggage off the field but we all did. You can manage that. If he comes then he is here for the football and not the controversy.”<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he would jump at the chance of coming to play here. We are in talks. We have made a bid for him. There is serious interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you are never confident. Wolves are tough negotiators. We have known that from when we tried to get Kevin Doyle last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I would not say I\u2019m confident but I am hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could go until Friday but we may not wait that long. We may have options to look at.<\/p>\n
\u201cPreferably we would like to get a definitive answer in the next couple of days. I don\u2019t know how far apart the two clubs are. That\u2019s the difficulty \u2013 we have not been given a price. There will have to be a cut-off point at some stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
It does look like all that has to be agreed is the fee. The baggage is irrelevant, to prove this we asked a section of the Celtic support to remain in the concourse at half time recently if they had -no matter how trivial-ever had a wee bit of bother with the police. Those completely clean went back to their seats;<\/p>\n
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Its not the biggest problem in the world, is it ?<\/p>\n
Give him a chance, as I said above, he might not be who we want, but theres every chance he’ll turn out to be what we need.<\/p>\n
Though if this was him, I might reconsider..<\/p>\n
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The Shropshire star reckons a replacement for Griffiths is already lined up in Leon clarke, so it won’t be long before we get our man…<\/p>\n
While Griffiths has proved himself at the top level in Scotland, eyebrows were raised at another little rumour that has broken into other forums. We heard this a while ago from our usual drunken source, but decided to ignore it as even we have to draw the line somewhere.<\/p>\n
Down in the second division, or league one \u00a0or whatever its called this week, Second Rangers are desperate for cash, and with their jewel in the crown Lee Wallace earning more than the club can afford to pay-actually all the players at Ibrox are on more than the club can afford to pay- there was talk of a sneaky bid right at the end of the window to provide cover for Emilio Izzaguerre at left back. Eyebrows raised ? Well, obviously. Wallace can play at the level he’s at, but how would he cope against full time players every week ? How would he cope with the pressure of playing for a big club, in front of big crowds , in major tournaments ?<\/p>\n
There are doubts, and perhaps on reflection, a move for Aaron Taylor Sinclair at Partick would be a better bet, as he has more big game experience.<\/p>\n
And anyway, why should we give that club any money ? They’d only waste it.<\/p>\n
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Dorin Ratiriu is another name on everyones lips. The eighteen year old Dinamo Bucharest winger was also the subject of a Celtic bid, but if the offer for Griffiths of \u00a3400,000 is a guideline, it would probably have cost more to cash the cheque than was on it.<\/p>\n
There are more players currently being considered, according to Neil Lennon, and there may yet be a few surprises;<\/p>\n
“We are hoping to get some things done over the next couple of days,” he said. “It would be beneficial as they would have four or five months to get accustomed to the way we play, the surroundings and environment and going into the Champions League qualifiers having had that experience behind them.<\/p>\n
“It\u00b4s the ideal scenario\u00a0but we\u00a0might not\u00a0get that, and if we can\u00b4t finalise the business we want in January then we will look again in the summer like we do in every window.”
\nWe do seem to spend a lot of time looking in windows, perhaps we should actually go into the shop now and again.<\/p>\n
The Celtic Trust has published a report and summary of their meeting last week;<\/p>\n
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