Celtic star Leigh Griffiths hits back at internet trolls who lied about failed drugs test

Old Winston was dead on the money then and his words resonate even more now. What would he have made of Twitter?

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Social media is anything but social. It is a forum where the sad and lonely get the chance to put forth their conspiracy theories, which are in essence lies, and this week it was the turn of Leigh Griffiths to get it.

The Celtic player has not been feeling well and after Sunday’s game at Hearts was sent to hospital for tests. He stayed in overnight, an infection was the prognosis, and yesterday still looked a bit peely-wally.

And, of course, those without a huge amount going on in their lives were only too happy to spread the rumour that he’d failed a drugs test.

“It was madness, what I was reading,” said Griffiths with a sigh. “I had to laugh at the stuff people try to make up but it’s not nice for my family to see. They all read that nonsense and it’s disgusting, some of it.

“The people who put this out there, that’s their life. If it makes them happy putting out rumours then that’s what they want to do. I prefer to ignore what they’re saying and concentrate on the real world.

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“These people are sad individuals. They don’t see the light of day; they just sit behind computers or mobile phones and try and make up rubbish to disrupt other people’s lives.

“I’ve learned to grow a pair and just ignore them. I had to say something on this occasion because when there are rumours going around that I’ve failed a drug test and it’s being swept under the carpet then I have to come out and say something because if I sit in silence then that lie gathers more and more momentum.

“You guys would have to ask the gaffer about it and he’d blow his lid, so I felt I had to put this to bed so that it was quashed, and nobody would speak about it again.”

Griffiths isn’t having much luck at the moment. Just when his calf problems appear to have cleared up, he gets stuck down by illness.

The 27-year-old is naturally skinny and the virus took a couple of pounds off him which he could be doing with.

“I’m still a bit under the weather but I’ve been given medicine from the hospital to take and it’ll pass,” he said. “Anyway, there are only a couple of games still to go and then I can have a proper rest.

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“I didn’t even feel rough. I don’t know what it was, just a bad infection. Last Sunday took its toll and that’s when the doc called me and told me to get to a hospital, and I was admitted overnight. They did various tests on me but they came back all clear and I just wanted to get out so I could return to training and playing. It really affected my energy levels and I felt physically weak. I also lost a lot of weight and I’m finding normal training sessions a bit hard.”

Griffiths could do with a break in more ways than one. His body needs to rest for a few weeks before pre-season training begins. When he has played this season, he’s scored goals and looked sharp. But it has been a disrupted campaign.

He was voted the best national team player by that fine body of women and men, the Scottish Football Writers’ Association, and he was a worthy recipient.

It’s just a real pity that he hasn’t been able to put together a lengthy run of games.

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“Obviously, I haven’t been able to play to my full potential this season so it’s nice to pick up this award,” said the man is two goals away from scoring 100 for Celtic.

“It’s obviously been frustrating for me. I’d rather miss games through illness than injury but since I’ve been available to train again I haven’t missed a single session and that’s credit to the medical team and the specialists I’ve had to see to fix this problem.

“People still come up to me and mention those two goals against England. We deserved the three points that afternoon but I still feel it helped us kick on after that”

“We had a job to do that day, we had to emulate the way we played at Wembley and we gave the fans something back as the campaign hadn’t been great.

“We obviously got the win in March and then we were looking forward to June and it was a must-win game with England coming up. They were massive favourites, they were tipped to put us away just as they did at Wembley but we showed what we were about and we were 30 seconds away from getting a win.”

Griffiths may travel with Scotland in the summer but to do that, and there is an argument to say he should stay at home, he has to prove his fitness.

“I’ll be back in the squad for Sunday and hopefully I can get some game time under my belt,” he said.

“Then it’s just looking forward to the cup final next week, it’s going to be a great day out and hopefully we can go and make history.

“We want to finish the league off in style on Sunday.”