Times Talker: Was Neil right to play Griffiths?

CELTIC have made it clear they will support their player when he faces the charges brought against him by the SFA, and try to help him through the as-yet unspecified issues in his private life.

Ostracising him would not be supporting him, so Lennon was correct to include him in the squad for the weekend's game at Motherwell.

Unlike at Tannadice, when only the first charge of singing a song about Hearts' financial predicament was known, there was no discernable, stupid chanting from the fans about his behaviour, and no show of bravado from Griffiths.

The seriousness of the charges he will face at Hampden on Thursday have clearly sunk in, and it was good to see him getting back to what he is paid to do - scoring goals for Celtic.

NO says IAN BLACK:

WITH such serious charges pending, and police and club investigations still ongoing, it would have been prudent to take Griffiths out of the spotlight altogether.

The SFA might do this for Celtic by way of a ban when they hold their hearing on Thursday into his alleged racist singing.

So, why run the risk of something happening which exacerbates the situation during the game at Fir Park?

It's not as though there were no other strikers at Lennon's disposal.

Indeed, it could be argued Teemu Pukki and Holmbert Fridjonsson - both unused subs - were more in need and deserving of time on the park than Griffiths.

Sure, he scored the goal which, in the end, gave Celtic a point.

But, the risk was surely far greater than the reward.

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