There always seems to be someone looking for a sinister explanation when it comes to why Celtic players, especially prominent ones, get dropped from the first team.
Maybe the player was dropped for a tactical reason? Maybe someone else was knocking at the door and performing well in training? Or maybe it’s because it’s Leigh Griffiths and with his and Lennon’s past, it grabs a headline.
Noel Whelan, speaking to Football Insider, reckons (in a somewhat speculative opinon) that the manager and player have fallen out.
Now it’s no secret that Griffiths has tested Lennon’s patience on more than one occasion this season, but to make such an assertive leap like this without proof or foundation, helps no one.
Whelan said, “He was doing so well for a period, playing, scoring the goals, getting all kinds of different goals, then all of a sudden, again, something crops up,” Whelan told Football Insider.
“We don’t know what it is but again, like Gareth Bale, there’s a reason why you’re sitting on the bench, there’s a reason why you’re getting hooked.
“Only Neil Lennon and Leigh Griffiths know why but we know there was a rift before the season (about Griffiths) coming back overweight, we knew there was an issue there.
“Then he won the heart again of Neil Lennon and now, again, it looks like there’s something between them that’s just not right and there’s been some kind of bust-up.
“You can’t be having these little rifts within a squad or with a manager, it’s not healthy for everybody else and around them.”
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