It was provoked by the appearance on social media of photos of him playing golf up in Scotland whilst the rest of the team was down in England.
This led many to speculate that he had been “a naughty boy” whatever the Hell that means.
Stories sprung up like weeds along a woodland road.
It was a shocking spectacle.
I said towards the end of that piece that if there was something for us to know then we’d know it soon enough.
Because we’d hear it from Celtic first and not some mate of a mate who drove a taxi with another mate’s mate in the back who heard a story from his pub landlord who got it from his girlfriend’s mum who works at Lennoxtown.
So it proved.
Prompted, no doubt, by media inquiries a Celtic spokesman confirmed that Griffiths didn’t travel with the rest of the team and won’t be going to France either. Instead he’ll be here in Scotland, at Lennoxtown, working on his fitness after he returned from lockdown having gained a little more weight than he should.
Lockdown has been like that for a lot of us.
He isn’t the only footballer who has returned feeling and looking a little out of shape.
Let’s not forget that Leigh suffers from depression; if some of you reckon the last four months have been hard, try being alone with four walls and the demons in your head, being separated from family and friends and the support networks people with that dreadful condition need.
See if you aren’t a little out of shape yourself.
Leigh has traditionally had issues in keeping up the pace and thinking of himself as an athlete.
The only difference between Leigh and dozens of players in Scotland, many of whom are darlings of the Sevco loving hacks – Morelos, Boyd and Lafferty come to mind – is that at Celtic Park the standards are higher and there is a real focus on all that stuff.
Those clubs which don’t have those lofty ambitions for their players have turned out footballers far less trimmed and toned.
Nobody bats an eyelid. Nobody in our press corps cares.
How fortuitous for them that this should come on the same day as Israeli striker Shone Weissman’s manager is claiming Celtic have made an offer for his client. This is so clearly a Sevco style attempt to spark an auction for the player that I’m not even going to comment on it further.
But what a neat little double our press corps have here, being able to turn their minor story about Griffiths into a much larger one, with Pattullo of The Scotsman already suggesting that the player’s Celtic career is “under threat.”
Hey, it may be that Griffiths is not in our long term plans; until I hear that from the manager or someone inside Celtic Park, on the record, then it’s junk. It’s gossip.
The Celtic spokesman said no such thing, and it wasn’t even suggested at in his statement.
The last thing Griffiths needs right now, as he tries to get back to fitness, is more of this stuff floating about. He will be used to it now. These sort of stories have been following him for years, and he keeps on keeping on. He keeps on scoring goals.
Those saying Lennon will be furious are surmising; they don’t know what the exact circumstances are here, but Lennon himself suffers from depression and knows what value Leigh brings to the team so my guess is he’s more understanding than the hacks hope for.
I hope our own fans keep their cool and give Leigh the same support.
I am absolutely certain that we will.
On Wednesday, this site will publish an unpdated version of our A-Z of Scottish Football Scandal. In the meantime, take the below quiz and see how much you know about some of the most shocking events in the game’s recent history.