How Do You Think The Club Should Deal With Leigh Griffiths?

I know, it was really lame. :smiley-laughing002:

You do get what I'm saying, though, right?

 

There's a definite witch-hunt going on in Scotland with this guy. He seems to have this effect on people. I said above (but it's worth repeating), I'm amazed at how many good, sensible, thoughtful posters on this board are so determined to write this guy off, not as a Celtic player but as a human being.

The guy has an ego problem but it's the opposite of what people seem to think: far from being up his own * he's incredibly insecure. Everything about him screams insecurity and desperation for people to like him. Carpeting him will only make him feel bitter and even more insecure and it won't helo sort out his racism (punish him hard enough and he'll learn to hide it better, but that's not what we're about at Celtic).

IMO three things need to be done:

1) It needs to be made clear that racist behaviour is not acceptable at Celtic. This has probably already happened.
2) Some suitable punishment has to be chosen that will help him to see why his views are both ignorant and unacceptable. I'm desperately hoping that we're just waiting for the Police investigation to end to pursue this.
3) We need to make it clear to him that it's his racist views which are unacceptable, not him. We need to back him and, yes, even show him support in this difficult time.

This guy has already had more than his fair share of being hated and people washing their hands of him; far from helping it's contributed to what he is today. If we let him away with this (which so far seems to be the case), he'll not change; if we carpet him, he'll only learn to hide it better.

We go on about Celtic as a family a lot. If people found out one of their kids was racist, would they just try and brush it under the carpet or would they wash their hands of them? You'd do neither because you love them too much, right?

 

Celtic as a club like to take the high moral ground and has over the years proved itself to have high standards and impeccable behaviour . That's all the more reason why Celtic should investigate thoroughly Leigh Griffiths recently and in the more distant past. Surely the decent thing for a club of Scotland 's high standards would be to educate and punish Leigh in a manner suitable for what he has actually done rather than what some people think he has done , or would have liked him to have done .
Obviously the police don't know what if anything Griffiths has known as they wouldn't need another month to bring charges .

 

It really is bizarre isn't it? The guy seems to be all over the place. From apparently not disputing the fact that Celtic were formed by refugees for refugees, and indeed agreeing with that to be the case... then ten minutes later he's disputing that fact! I think that ultimately sums up his position.

 

I've watched it. But again, I don't see how that answers my initial question. If racism is not a sackable offence at a club which preaches to have a 'zero tolerance' approach to racist and discriminatory behaviour, what is a sackable offence in your book?

 

You're first part is quite right. The second is nonsense. The vast, and overwhelming majority of the people you are referring to were escaping a man-made, politically-induced 'famine' in Ireland. Almost the very definition of a refugee! Do you think Celtic would have been formed had it not been for the mass influx of Irish arriving in Glasgow to escape the 'famine'?!

Brother Walfrid, along with prominent members of Glasgow's early Irish community formed Celtic. Many of those men were refugees or sons of refugees who wouldn't have been in Glasgow had it not been for the fact they were forced there from Ireland.

 

I'm not saying it's not a sackable offence. Every individual case should be judged on its own merits. I just don't see what is gained, in this particular instance, by sacking him. I think other options are preferable. We would be within our rights to sack him.

 

Mate, it's so obvious what you meant. I can't believe you've had to explain that to Celtic fans.

 

So if you believe he shouldn't be sacked for singing about '* refugees'- while also bearing in mind he has in the past told someone from an ethnic minority to '* off home'- what does he have to do, in your book, before you think sacking him is warranted?

 

Another month, Wonder why he's wanting it delayed?.. Surely he'd be better of taking a ban in the remaining games this season than the start of next.

Unless he feels it'll come to nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

Strange.

 

Each case needs to be judged individually. If, in a given case, the best way to get someone to see that their racist views are wrong is to sack them or if someone is so filled with hate and bile that there's no realistic hope of getting them to see this, then they should be sacked.

Neither is the case with Griffiths who, in spite of his age and kids, is just stupd, ignorant and insecure.

 

I think it's important not to prejudice the ongoing police investigation. The last thing that would be helpful in all this is for criminal proceedings to take place. If he apologises and is sent to work with refugees (both of which I hope happen) before the Police conclude their investigation, could that be seen as enough of an admission of guilt for a prosecution?

 

Fair enough. But I disagree. I think his recent interview in which he showed no remorse for what he actually did, and merely a disappointment that he got caught and relief that he will seemingly receive nothing more than a slap on the wrists, speaks volumes in terms of what the guy is all about. Then there's his previous conduct to take into account!

 

I think his celebration at the weekend showed that he couldn't really care less what he has done wrong. The cupping of the ear tells me that he thinks the fans have been in the wrong for giving him abuse about the whole situation.

 

Of course he doesn't feel remorse: he doesn't think he's done much wrong and therefore probably thinks things have been unfairly blown out of proportion. A fair number of TC members seem to think he's done little wrong too! He needs educated on this issue and that so far hasn't happened.

 

It's clear the gesture wasn't aimed at the support as a wholeand so presumably it was aimed at those few who had been giving him abuse. I've said it over and over again: neither punishment nor letting him off with a slap on the wrists will educate him as to why that song is racist. His current attitude appears to bear that out given that the club appears to be letting him away with it and the SFA will probably carpet him.

First he has to be shown why his attitude and actions were racist, then we can hope for him to show some remorse.

 

Yeah, I understand what you're saying, but again I disagree.

I think if someone in Griffiths' position can't grasp that telling a guy to '* off home' because he has brown skin or a 'foreign' sounding name is racist and unacceptable, then that's bad enough. But to actually learn nothing from that episode and subsequent punishment, and to start a song in a pub about '* refugees', but I'm sorry, that's the sign of someone who is too stupid or too hateful to be offered any sort help or conditional reprieve in my opinion.

 

Did he actually call him a refugee? All I heard was him sing a few words of the song....

 

Yeah, he definitely sang the refugee part. No doubt about it.