LEIGH GRIFFITHS came back to haunt Craig Brown once, but the former Scotland boss says he is the man to realise his dreams of seeing his country in a major tournament once more.
Brown came close to landing Griffiths on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers when he was Aberdeen manager, and missing out on the forward would prove to be costly to the Pittodrie side down the line.
Far from holding a grudge though, Brown remains a massive fan of the Celtic striker, and he is hoping he will be included in Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad for the Euro 2020 play-offs.
“He’s a scorer,” Brown said. “He has that thing that the other strikers we have at the moment probably don’t, and I wouldn’t hesitate to have him in the squad.
“I actually think his attitude has changed for the better. I’ve met him at one or two dinners, and he couldn’t have been more courteous or polite. I’m Mr Brown, and when I tried to tell him to call me Craig, he wouldn’t have it. And yet, you saw some of the things he would do on the pitch and you would wonder if he was a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde character.
“But I think he is a player of undoubted goalscoring ability. If you’ve got him through the middle and you put the ball into the penalty box, then you’ve got chances of scoring.
“I was interested in bringing him to Aberdeen on loan when I was there, and we nearly had him too. The wages were a stumbling block.
“We were to regret it, because he ended up at Hibs and we got them in the semi-finals of the cup. And who scored the winner? Leigh Griffiths. Sod’s law.
“If we got him, we wouldn’t have lost that game. It was an offside goal mind you, but that was us beaten 2-1. That was probably my biggest heartache in football, that the guy I was going to sign came back to haunt me.
“The only question is, if Leigh Griffiths is on the field for you, is he likely to score? And the answer is yes.”
Brown points to Griffiths’ ability to finish with one touch as a sure-fire sign of a top-level striker.
“I’m a statistics guy and everybody slags me for it, but four out of five goals at the top level are one-touch finishes,”he said.
“We had David Goodwillie at Aberdeen, and he couldn’t score regularly because he wouldn’t finish with one-touch. He would want another one, and another one. At the top level of football in the penalty box, you get closed down and you don’t get that opportunity.
“Griffiths on the other hand is a very good one-touch finisher. He’s good in the air for his size, and he doesn’t need to have an extra-touch.
“I see Goodwillie is scoring goals at Clyde now, but that’s two levels down and you get more time. When you are in the penalty box in an international, you don’t get that time. These defenders are right on you.
“Griffiths is a good one-touch finisher, and these are the guys that get goals at that level. The Maurice Johnston types, who are brave and can time their runs.
“I am quite enthusiastic about him, because I think he’s a great finisher. We also know what he can do with a free kick.
“I think our chances of qualifying are very good. I’m as certain as I can be that we will beat Israel, but the away game against Norway or Serbia will certainly be a tricky one."
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