STATISTICS can prove or disprove just about anything when used in a certain way and there is no exception when it comes to football.

A magazine some time ago, with the use of graphics, a pie chart and some very confusing fractions, set out to show us all that in actual fact James Milner was a better player than Gareth Bale.

Not only that but they had the numbers to prove it. To save you from looking up the article, I can confirm that their analysis was wrong.

And, yet, sometimes stats can truthfully serve to highlight how well a player has been doing and if you take a quick glance at Leigh Griffiths’ recent numbers, it will reveal just how superbly he has been for Celtic, especially in 2015.

Last month, a stat which caught my eye was that Griffiths had scored 39 goals in his first 50 starts for Celtic, something which gets even more impressive when you compare that to a few of his predecessors.

Over that same period of 50 starts for the club, Gary Hooper, the man Griffiths was brought into replace, has 28 goals, the prolific Scott McDonald scored 25 while Henrik Larsson, the king of kings, managed a mere 20.

Although the Swede’s strike rate did rather improve once he really got going in his second full season.

So far, Griffiths has 45 goals from 80 appearances at a ratio of 0.56 goals in every game. His career record is 155 goals from 304, which takes in his time at Livingston, Dundee, Wolves and Hibs.

To add some more perspective, Frank McAvennie scored 50 from 106, Shaun Maloney’s record is 52 from 216, Chris Sutton, perhaps less than you think, 85 from 199.

Griffiths’ goals and strike rate is up there with some recent greats and it’s about time he got more recognised for just what a fine centre-forward he has turned into.

Okay, so he’s a bit behind Jimmy McGrory’s 502 goals from 477 games in all competitions, a staggering record made all the more remarkable when you remember the ball in those days was rock hard and he was only a wee guy.

Griffiths has averaged a goal every two games just about everywhere he has been and if he can find another five goals for Celtic soon – he has Kilmarnock at home this Saturday – then there won’t be many in the club’s history to get to landmark of 50 in such a short period of time.

And, remember, he has not always been in the starting eleven. Any talk of Griffiths not being a good footballer should be binned.

Let’s take a look at this season. In the Ladbrokes Premiership, he has 13 goals from 14 games, and 18 overall so far. From 26 appearances he’s had 91 shots on goals with 47 of them being on target. That's good going.

Against Aberdeen at Celtic Park, he scored two goals and eight shots overall. Not even Hooper, who is still missed, was that active in matches.

Griffiths has scored the first goal seven times in his 14 league appearances. This is what any manager would want their lead striker doing, taking control and standing up as if to say ‘I’m the man who will get us into a game.’

That’s what Larsson did. Hooper and McDonald as well. To be a truly great Celtic striker, you can’t chip in with a goal or two once the game is 3-0 and won – there have been a few down the years who increased their tally once the pressure was off.

Griffiths himself gets tired, understandably so, when asked to go back a year or so ago when he was out the team and there was talk of him being loaned out to a Championship club in England. In fact, that’s what was being lined up to happen in the January transfer window,

But it is interesting to remind yourself just how much has changed for this guy in a little over a year, on and off the field, from when he was a bit-part player with only three goals to his name for the season.

The Celtic manager hadn’t given up on a player who he could see had talent, but is patience was wearing thin.

This is what Deila had to say; “Leigh knows how he is standing and what the situation is. I’ve always said people have to improve all the time to get the chances and that’s the same for Leigh as well as the others.

“We talk all the time. He’s a nice boy and we have good communication. I know it’s a possibility to loan players to the Championship but Leigh is here now and I want him to get his ?fitness up so we know what’s within him. He really wants to succeed at Celtic. He’s at a very big club, he knows it and this is his big chance.

“Wanting is one thing but knowledge is another. You have to see all of the time if you have the attitude or the knowledge.

“We work with both things now and Leigh looks like he wants to do it. Everyone knows what they must do to develop and that’s for Leigh also.

“Playing matches is important but being a 24-hour athlete is important as well and that goes for everyone. What you do in matches is important but also to be very aware of what you do every day in training and off the pitch – we have a big focus on that.”

That is as close to a public rollicking as the Norwegian gets. Back then, few felt Griffiths had much of a future at Celtic Park apart from Griffiths himself.

And yet if he can keep this going, those mentioned above would have another name alongside them in the list of great Celtic strikers.

He wouldn't need a pie chart to prove that.