Dundee are bottom of the Premiership and struggling to score goals.
And they’ve just let one of Scotland’s most lethal finishers of the past decade leave at the end of a transfer window.
That doesn’t seem to add up.
But any Dee will tell you there’s much more to this long-running saga.
That’s because Leigh Griffiths has been a shadow of his former self since returning to Dens Park.
Three goals in 17 appearances isn’t the worst record of a Dark Blues striker in recent years. Not by a long shot.
But there was very little else coming from the Scotland free-kick hero.
Arrival
Griffiths had just been given a new one-year extension to his Celtic contract as Ange Postecoglou arrived at Parkhead.
So when the man who’d scored 123 times in 261 matches for the Hoops pitched up at Dens Park on a season-long loan it was hailed as something of a coup for James McPake.
Fitness had been a problem for Griffiths after a spell away from the game to sort out personal issues.
So, getting him up to speed was priority No 1. It seemed that, once he was fit, Dundee would have Scotland’s best finisher at their disposal.
Unfortunately, that key trait eluded the 31-year-old.
Fleeting glimpse
First-team starts came and went before the moment every Dee had been waiting for arrived.
A long ball expertly taken down and finished with aplomb against Aberdeen – the old Griffiths was back.
But, it was only a fleeting glimpse.
Time wore on and fitness was still an issue.
By all accounts, Griffiths was doing all the hard yards in training, knocking his pan in as the saying goes. And, it must be said, he was generally a pleasant character around the club.
But, to the dismay of all, the striker would arrive back for training on a Monday and his fitness was seemingly back to square one.
And that lack of progression played out on the pitch, too.
With Danny Mullen back fit, Griffiths was relegated to the bench until a Covid and injury-ravaged squad left him as the only available frontman.
A howitzer of a free-kick followed at Aberdeen but then so did another enforced break in January.
Another three-week spell of training meant one more chance to get up to speed.
A goal at Dumbarton came but then his final appearance for Dundee at St Johnstone was yet another disappointment.
Did it derail the Dee?
There’s no question parts of Dundee’s game were sacrificed to get Griffiths up to speed.
They hadn’t won in the Premiership but had picked up credible draws at home to Hibs and St Mirren and were unlucky to lose at Motherwell.
But then the Dark Blues didn’t score for almost five straight matches following the striker’s arrival.
Top scorer Jason Cummings was relegated to support act, though had Mullen not been injured that may well have been the case anyway.
In among those five games was an incident against St Johnstone, after which Griffiths was charged by the police.
Whether the player’s fault or not, controversy has had a habit of following his entire career.
When goals are flying in, clubs are willing to put up with off-field distractions. If not, they become a much bigger problem.
Griffiths did play a major role in the first league win of the season, opening the scoring against the Dons.
But his all-round game wasn’t providing much for Dundee.
What happened in January?
Dundee were shelling out a decent percentage of Griffiths’ £5,000 a week Celtic contract.
It was quite obvious they weren’t getting much bang for their buck.
Embroiled in a relegation battle, the club weren’t willing to go on paying big money for an under-performing player and so informed Celtic of their decision to end the loan.
Part of the deal signed in August meant they had to tell the Hoops before January 7.
Celtic, meanwhile, had their own clause in Griffiths’ contract that meant they could end that deal in January.
It was not a clause that benefited the player – and allowing Griffiths to sign that deal is now regarded as a poor piece of advice. He now has a new agent.
Best made plans
Aware of his past issues, neither Dundee nor Celtic wanted to be seen to wash their hands of Griffiths.
The way it broke in the press, however, it certainly didn’t seem that way.
Behind the scenes, it was agreed that Dundee would end the loan, Celtic would release Griffiths and the striker would sign a permanent deal with the Dark Blues.
It may have looked like neither club wanted him but the intention was to look after the 31-year-old in ensuring he wasn’t just cast aside.
Part of that agreement would also see the Dens club get Osaze Urhoghide on loan.
Dundee needed a centre-back and the Celts wanted to get him experience of the Premiership.
The problem was Urhoghide didn’t want to go to Dundee. He has since signed on loan for KV Oostende in Belgium.
So all of that fell through.
Late in the window, Dundee did indeed offer Griffiths a short-term deal until the end of the season.
However, it was far short of his original contract at Celtic, with the bulk of it performance-based.
The offer wasn’t to Griffiths’ liking and he left in search of a new club.
And so ended the long-running Leigh Griffiths-Dundee saga.
