Leigh Griffiths

At 34 years old, Leigh Griffiths has this physical status:

Club career

Griffiths made his Livingston debut as a sixteen-year-old before losing by 3–1 to Airdrie United on December 30, 2006. In his breakthrough season at Almondvale Stadium, he worked with fellow students and future Scotland colleagues, Robert Snodgrass and Graham Dorrans. Griffiths played in the SFL under-19 League from 2007 to 2008 with the youth team. Griffiths and Joe McKee, who were then livingston teammates Andy Halliday and Joe McKee, spent five days on trial with Italian Serie B side Parma in March 2009. He worked with West Bromwich Albion in April 2009 and was strong enough to warrant a change, but then manager Tony Mowbray departed soon after, and the club moved on to other goals.

Griffiths made a £125,000 move to Dundee, Scotland's First Division rivals, on June 25, 2009, despite having an offer rejected for the player back in April. He scored three goals on Dundee's 2009–10 Scottish Challenge Cup campaign, and the team beat Inverness 3–2 in the final, beating Inverness by three goals. Livingston said in January 2011 that they had yet to receive compensation, which was denied by Dundee. Griffiths became a fan favourite during his time in Dundee, scoring 34 goals in 62 appearances, including a spectacular 30-yard free kick against Rangers in the Scottish League Cup.

Griffiths signed with Wolverhampton Wanderers in England on a two-and-a-kind deal on January 27, 2011 after he successfully completed a two-week trial. Dundee's transfer fee was estimated at £150,000. He was an unused replacement against Tottenham in March 2011, but did not appear in any matchday squads until the club's remaining fixtures of the season. His Wolves debut came on August 23, 2011, when he came as a replacement in a League Cup tie against Northampton Town in what was to be his first game for the club during the 2011–2012–13 seasons.

In both seasons, the Wolves instead loaned him out to Hibernian, where he had a great deal of success (see below). Following his success with Hibs, the Wolves opted to opt for a contract extension that would guarantee that Griffiths stayed under contract for the 2013–14 season. Hibernian made an offer to buy him in a long-term contract, but Wolves said they had "no intention of selling the player to any other club" in a statement. Griffiths was part of his team's campaign in League One, according to Kenny Jackett, who made his team debut against Preston on August 3, 2013, some two-and-a-half years since first signing. He scored twice against Gillingham a week later in the club's new long-term deal.

Griffiths was the Wolves' top goalscorer for the season in 2014, winning Celtic bids. Wolves turned down initial bids from the Scottish champions, and the club agreed to a bid that was worth £1 million on January 31.

Griffiths signed Hibernian, a Scottish Premier League club, on a 6-month loan in August 2011. It had been postponed three days before his loan was due to come to an end. Since being suspended for a second time for gesturing at supporters, Hibs boss Pat Fenlon had him chastised him. He was banned from returning to prison for the same offence later this month. Newspaper reports said he assaulted Fenlon and his assistant in March 2012, but the club denied this information. In the Scottish Cup semi-finals against Aberdeen, he scored a late winning goal. Griffiths scored 11 goals in 36 appearances for Hibs from 2011 to 2012.

Hibs and Wolves agreed to a new loan agreement in July 2012, which is expected to run until at least January 2013. He scored three goals in the 2012-2013 season, two in a single match against St Mirren. In August 2012, he received the SPL Player of the Month award for August 2012 and then scored both goals against Kilmarnock in his second appearance. In another match against St Mirren on November 3rd, two goals lifted his total tally to eleven for the season. In a friendly against Luxembourg, he earned his first Scotland cap. But his form improved after this, as he scored two goals in the next thirteen games.

Griffiths was hired by his parent club Wolves in January 2013 to allow new manager Dean Saunders to evaluate him. Wolves then released a statement chastising him for making a inflammatory comment on Twitter. PFA Scotland said that although they were unable to comment on individual cases that were ongoing, they condemned all "discriminatory conduct" and warned their followers to be aware of the risks of misusing social media. Show Racism the Red Card's campaign group said they were "saddened" by the remarks and acknowledged the apology made by him to the individual concerned and the general public.

Wolves announced in a tweet that Griffiths' derogatory comment that they would remain at Hibs for the remainder of the 2012–13 season, which was confirmed on January 16th. In every SPL match during February, he gained his second SPL Player of the Month award. In a Scottish Cup tie against Kilmarnock on March 3, 2013, he scored his first ever professional hat-trick. After the ball bounced off the crossbar and crashed behind the goal line before returning to play a week later, he seemed to have scored a free-kick goal. The ball had crossed the line by a few feet, according to television replays, but referee Euan Norris did not have a goal, and the game ended goalless. In the Scottish Cup semi-finals on April 13, 2013, he scored in extra time to lift Falkirk from a come-from-behind 4–3 win.

Griffiths was nominated for Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year by PFA Scotland by mid-April, winning the latter award. In the Scottish Premier League Yearly Awards, he was also named in the SPL Team of the Year and named Player of the Year.

On May 17, he was named the SFWA Footballer of the Year, becoming the first Hibs player to win the award since Pat Stanton in 1970.

On January 31, 2014, Griffiths signed a four-year contract with Scottish champions Celtic for an undisclosed fee.

In the 2013–14 Scottish Cup fifth round against Aberdeen, Griffiths made his Celtic debut as a replacement. He scored his first goal for Celtic against Hearts on February 22, 2014. In a 5–0 home win over Inverness on March 1, 2014, he scored a hat-trick against Inverness. He had a good rapport with fellow striker Anthony Stokes, who had up until Griffiths' arrival at Celtic in January but had troubled for form this season. In a 6–0 win over Inverness at Celtic Park on April 27, the pair put on an outstanding show throughout the season. Griffiths scored in the first half of Stokes' first two goals (the Irish striker went on to complete a hat trick) before passing from Stokes and shooting in to the far corner of the net. Griffiths had 7 goals from 14 appearances for Celtic in the season.

Griffiths was issued a notice of a lawsuit in April after he was caught on camera in Edinburgh discussing the financial stability of Hearts. He apologised to Hearts and was disciplined by Celtic. Rudi Skácel, a former Hearts player, was identified as a "refugee" in a video footage of him chanting in an Edinburgh pub, prompting police inquiries by Celtic, the SFA, and Police Scotland. Celtic boss Neil Lennon said the club would do everything they could to assist him.

He was charged and charged with an offence relating to an incident in the Edinburgh pub and the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act in January 2015. At a court appearance in September 2015, he confessed to the offence for which he was admonished. Celtic had previously been fined four weeks' wages.

Griffiths was used mostly as a back-up by new Celtic manager Ronny Deila in the first couple of months of the following season. He didn't play for the first team in September and was linked with a loan transfer to Hibernian, a former club. Griffiths must develop his fitness, according to manager Ronny Deila, who stressed the importance of being a "24-hour athlete."

Griffiths returned to first-team action in October, with the team now playing in games as a replacement. In a 6–0 victory over Partick Thistle in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, he scored twice. He began playing more often after the New Year, and after defeating Rangers 2–0 in the Scottish League Cup semi-final on February 1, 2015, he opened the scoring; it was the first Old Firm match since April 2012; he was banned for his goal celebrations. In his next ten games for Celtic, he scored six goals.

He began in the League Cup Final on March 15th, clearing out John Guidetti after 69 minutes of a landslide victory over Dundee United. Griffiths beat Kilmarnock in the second half of the league on April 15, with a hat-trick. Deila praised both his goalscoring and his overall contribution to the team, describing his results as "fabulous." Deila also spoke about the changes he had made to his fitness. In a 3–0 victory over Dundee United at Tannadice, Eleven days later, he scored another treble, combining all of the goals. Celtic defeated Inverness 5–0 in their final game of the season on May 24th, with Griffiths coming on as a replacement in the second half for Celtic's fourth goal of the game and 20th of the season.

Griffiths wore number 9 on Celtic's number 9 shirt at the start of the 2015–16 season.

In a 3–2 victory over Celtic Park in the first leg of the Champions League playoffs, he scored a brace against Swedish side Malmö FF on August 19, 2015.

Celtic failed to qualify for the Champions League, falling in the Europa League, but he continued to score regularly. He had scored ten goals in 18 domestic and European matches by early October. On December, he signed a new deal with Celtic, extending his deal with the club until 2021. "I don't know why I really need to leave this club," he said on Celtic. This is a bigger squad than three quarters of the English Premier League. "If you look at me before, still doing daft stuff off the field," the veteran general said, "I've kind of eased down a bit and I had to because I was almost staring the exit door in the face."

Griffiths scored his 50th goal for Celtic in their 4–1 victory over Tannadice over Charlie Nicholas in the 1980s, making him the youngest Celtic player to do so since Charlie Nicholas in 1981, with fewer games than Henrik Larsson and John Hartson's. He scored 40 goals in all Celtic competitions this season, making him the first player to do so since Larsson in 2003.

Griffiths was a key participant in Celtic's fifth straight league title win, scoring 31 goals in the league. He earned the PFA Scotland, Scottish Football Writers', and Scottish Premiership Player of the Year awards during his time in Scotland over the course of the year.

Griffiths opened his account for the 2016–17 season in the second leg of Celtic's Champions League second qualifying round clash against Lincoln Red Imps, scoring the second goal in Celtic's 3–0 victory. In a 5–2 victory over Hapoel Beer Sheva, he scored twice. Griffiths found it difficult to return to the team after recovering from an injury due to Moussa Dembélé's arrival.

Following Dembélé's injury in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers, Griffiths found his way back to the first team and helped Celtic win the Treble and finish the season undefeated.

Griffiths was warned of time-wasting after he grabbed a glass Buckfast bottle from the crowd and pointed it to the referee in Celtic's first match of the 2017-18 season, a qualifier for the UEFA Champions League against Linfield in Belfast. The incident was one of many instances of missile-throwing in a match that was never expected to be costly due to many of the clubs' supporters, and it took place in the same week as the largest annual Unionist celebrations in Northern Ireland, which inflame local tensions. Griffiths responded to hostility by tethering a Celtic scarf to the goalposts at the conclusion of the game (which his team won). UEFA not only confirmed the reservation but also announced that they intend to discipline Griffiths for his scarf gesture, which they considered to be offensive to the home fans.

Griffiths defeated Celtic's Rangers 2–0 in a 2–0 victory on September 23, 2017. With a scarf thrown into the pitch by Celtic fans, he celebrated his victory and made news for allegedly wiping the contents of his nose on the Ibrox corner flag.

Griffiths scored his 100th goal for Celtic on August 30th when he defeated FK Sduva, making him the first player to do so since John Hartson had been injured thirteen years ago. Griffiths announced in September that they had signed a new deal with Celtic that was set to run until 2022. Griffiths will not be present for a "limited period of time," Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers said in December, because he would have to address problems in his personal life.

Griffiths played infrequently for Celtic over the next two seasons, making only nine starts between 2020 and 21. His Celtic contract came to an end on June 30th, causing rumors of his future, but the club's one-year deal was signed on July 2021. Griffiths was dismissed from Celtic's pre-season training camp after it became public that Police Scotland was looking into evidence that Griffiths had sent inappropriate online messages to an underage teen. The police said a week later that their investigation had found that there were no criminal convictions in the messages. During a friendly match against West Ham United on July 24, several Celtic fans booed Griffiths in his next appearance at Celtic Park. After losing their support with his on-field work, Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou said afterwards that it was up to Griffiths to gain their trust.

Griffiths rejoined Dundee on a season-long loan on August 31st 2021. Griffiths lost in a 0–0 draw with Livingston on September 11, his second appearance for Dundee. Griffiths appeared to kick a smoke bomb into a section of St Johnstone supporters during a League Cup match on September 22nd. He was charged with culpable and reckless conduct in connection with the occurrence two days later. Griffiths scored his first goal for the Dee in over a decade against Aberdeen after recovering from a small injury. Celtic invoked a clause in Griffiths' deal in January 2022, which would also end his loan term. Griffiths turned down a bid to sign for Dundee permanently.

Griffiths signed for Falkirk for the remainder of the 2021-22 season on February 8, 2022. At the end of the season, he left the club.

Griffiths signed for third-tier side Mandurah City on a short-term contract in August 2022. In a league victory over the Western Knights, Griffiths scored on his debut for the Dolphins.

Griffiths had returned to Scotland by October 2022, where he had been given the use of training facilities at Livingston.

International career

Griffiths was chosen for the Scotland B team that played Northern Ireland B. at the end of the 2008-2009 season. George Boyd was set up for the second goal and Griffiths was able to score the last goal in a 3–0 win. He was a regular for the Scotland under 19 team and was later selected to play for Scotland's under-21 team. On his second call up against Azerbaijan, Scotland's first goal was on his second page up.

Griffiths was kept out of any Scotland U21 squads despite playing regularly in the 2011-2012 Scottish Premier League for Hibernian. In September 2012, he was summoned for qualification games against Luxembourg (in which he scored) and Austria.

In November 2012, Griffiths was included in the full Scotland squad for a friendly match against Luxembourg. Scotland's second cap came against Croatia in a 1–0 away victory in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Griffiths scored his first goal for Scotland on 87th-minute free kick against England on June 10, 2017, before scoring another one just three minutes later to put the Scots 2–1 ahead. Harry Kane netting England's leveller. During 2018 World Cup qualifying, Griffiths scored further against Malta and Slovenia.

Griffiths did not play for Scotland in 2019 due to injuries in his fitness and personal life. He was called back to the squad in November 2020 and was part of the squad that defeated Scotland in the play-off qualifier that advanced to Euro 2020. However, he was not selected in Steve Clarke's 26-man team for the finals in May 2021.

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