Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths has pulled out of Alex McLeish’s Scotland squad for the upcoming matches against Israel and Portugal, citing fitness reasons.
As quoted by Sky Sports, the Hoops forward said:
I feel that I need to focus on my fitness over this international period and get back into the best possible shape.
I had a good discussion with the manager to explain my decision. It’s not one that I’ve made lightly. It means a lot to me to play for Scotland and I hope to be part of Alex’s plans again in future, if selected.
My aim is to be back to my best and be available for selection for club and country.
It’s actually good to hear the Celtic striker want to focus on getting fully fit and impress in green and white before trying to force his way into Scotland plans, especially with one of the encounters being a meaningless friendly.
That’s especially true when McLeish has made it clear that he is looking to play Steven Naismith ahead of the Hoops forward in matches, something that was reported to have caused friction between the pair recently.
Whatever his reasons, this can only benefit Celtic in the short term and fans are delighted to see him make the decision, taking to Twitter to share their thoughts on it all…
👏👏Well done Leigh on 2 counts. Focus entirely on Celtic first ✅ (wish other Celts players had in the past,or will do same in the future). Secondly,McLeish displayed massive disrespect towards you with innuendo in your direction that Naismith was his choice https://t.co/IoOaeqvzaS
— Matt McGlone (@MattMcGlone9) October 8, 2018
Great news well done
— John Cameron (@bhoyjohn1888) October 8, 2018
In the past I'd get annoyed if Celtic players pulled out of squads. I always thought it'd be a huge honour to play for my country. But since 2012 and the pish from the SFA etc, culminating in making an EBT cheat who left b4 the boss, I'd rather NO Celts represent the corrupt SFA.
— Chris McDougall🍀🏴🇪🇺🏴☠️ (@chrissybhoy777) October 8, 2018
he is a dirty blazer wearing handwringing gammon heed hun nomark….no celtic player should play for the national team as long as ebt'rs are involved and the sfa are still blinkered by their anti celtic agendas
— pmcc13 (@pmcc1313) October 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/MikeyCorrigan/status/1049304966798737409
https://twitter.com/fenion_karen/status/1049290219399340032
CELTIC get a grip and pull our players out of that corrupt sfa let them at liebrox help them. celtic show abit of bottle and stand up tae they corrupt cheating f……
— T.MCGHEE..GARNGAD67 (@TMcghee17) October 8, 2018
I`d be happy enough if no Celtic player represented Scotland under the current SFA or the tax cheat McLeish.
— Tam (@TamMcKenna1888) October 8, 2018
What are your thoughts on Leigh Griffiths pulling out of the Scotland squad? Share your thoughts in the comments below…