Leigh Griffiths bore the brunt of Neil Lennon’s fury after Celtic drew their opening game of the Veolia Trophy on Thursday.
The Hoops claimed a 1-1 draw with Nice in their first match of the four-team tournament, which is taking place in France.
Griffiths, the 29-year-old forward, is not with the Celtic squad, however.
Lennon’s assessment of Griffiths in his post-match interview was scathing
He returned from football’s coronavirus suspension for pre-season ‘out of condition’, and was dropped from the group who trained in Loughborough and then travelled to France for the trophy.
Shortly after being axed from the squad Griffiths took to social media to post about ‘challenging’ his doubters, but this appears to have only frustrated Lennon even further.
“Im not happy,” said the Celtic boss. “I think thats fairly obvious by the fact that weve left him behind.
“Hes come back out of condition and overweight. Any physical work we asked him to do he was coming out of saying he was injured. Thats going to be the case because hes out of condition. So it would have been absolutely pointless bringing him with us. He wouldnt have been fit to play.
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“The ball is firmly in his court now in terms of getting himself in the right condition. He needs to stop all the social media nonsense.”
Lennon also made it clear that Celtic are running out of patience with the striker, who has scored 115 goals in 231 games since moving to Parkhead in 2013.
The club stood by him throughout the 2018/19 campaign when he spent a ‘little period of time’ out of football to deal with ‘ongoing issues’, some related to his mental health.
But Celtic chiefs are now growing increasingly frustrated with Lennon insisting the club cannot do much more for Griffiths.
Lennon warned Griffiths that time is running out for the striker at Parkhead
“The boys here are all top professionals and I have a great staff who are all professional as well,” he added. “They deserve better and he should know better.
“He needs to get his head down and get fit because thats what we pay him for. Weve done everything we possibly could.
“If he wants to have a future here at the club its down to himself. Were not prepared to do a lot more for him. Everythings there for him. Hes let himself down and hes let us down.
Rangers legend Ally McCoist says Celtics 19/20 title must come with an asterisk* next to it in the record books
“You can never say never about [last] chances, but hes got a lot to do to get back in around it. The ball is firmly in his court and it shouldnt have come to this.
“I told him he wouldnt be coming on the trip and we were bitterly disappointed in how hes come back. And since then Im disappointed with his reaction on social media as well, when weve asked him not to engage on social media because it just becomes a downward spiral.
“Hes got a fantastic opportunity at a club that believes in him and managers that believe in him and he keeps letting himself down.”