JOE HART took to social media at the end of last week to offer thanks for a Celtic Park welcome.

What might have been more entertaining to his audience would have been a peek at the reception he got when he first headed onto the Lennoxtown pitches.

It is a long time since Leigh Griffiths was zinging a couple of free-kicks beyond his flailing arms at Hampden but it is unlikely the striker would have missed a chance to partake in some friendly reminiscing.

All joshing aside, however, as a new Celtic hero zones in on the spotlight in the form of Kyogo Furuhashi, it's worth considering just where Griffiths is.

Set for a clean slate this summer when the club, compounding the expectations of many, offered him another year on reduced financial terms it did not take long for front-page headlines to blot a whole new copybook.

Booed when he made an appearance in a pre-season friendly against West Ham as the patience of the support finally snapped, Griffiths re-appeared on the bench for Sunday’s League Cup win over Hearts.

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A penny for his thoughts, especially in a first-half where Celtic ran Hearts ragged, would have been interesting.

Ange Postecoglou is keen to implement a system that is reliant on a high-pressing, high tempo style of play. 

It will require significant fitness levels to sustain that way of playing over the course of a campaign that routinely stretches beyond the 50-game mark as well as a depth to the squad.

Back in June as Scotland kicked off their European Championships campaign and Griffiths took in the opening defeat from the stands it was difficult to ignore the feeling that it was a waste of talent for the player, still only 30, to be reduced to nothing more than a spectator.

Even at Tynecastle on that opening night of the season when Celtic dominated without being able to get the return they craved the game was crying out for Griffiths and his predatory instincts inside the box.

There were only 7 goals over the course of the campaign from Griffiths last season, 12 the year before that.

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What is notable about the forward is the irrepressible nature of his personality. There has been a candidness to Griffiths when accepting the role he has played in his own downward trajectory.

It has frustrated previous managers – both Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon were public with their criticism of the player – and it remains to be seen if there is a third added to the list.

It is up to Griffiths to convince others, and perhaps himself, that there is still something to offer at Celtic as a new era gets underway.