John Collins had to lay it on the line for Leigh Griffiths

Leigh Griffiths will spearhead Celtic’s push to land a £15 million Champions League group stage place.

And he will do so thanks to his embracing of coach John Collins’ message on fitness and diet.

“I had a chat with Leigh and I told him that he had to realise where he was,” said Collins.

“He is at a fantastic football club as a striker playing for Celtic knowing that the team is dominating games and creating chances.

“You don’t want to leave this football club.

“So I told him he had to change and be more professional and eat, sleep and drink like a real football player if he wanted to be a Celtic first-team regular.

“Leigh looked me in the eye and told me: ‘I am going to change and do all that because I never want to leave this football club’.”

It was a promise the 24-year-old was to keep.

“He has made an effort,” said Collins.

“He has changed his body shape and he is much leaner and fitter which is important if you want to run about a football pitch for 90 minutes.

“It is good for him that he is lean.

“He has listened and learned and he has changed his eating habits and training methods as he goes to the gym a lot more now.

“It was vitally important for Leigh to make those changes and adjust.

“If you want to play at the top level, you have to be in top physical condition.

“Leigh has got his rewards for doing that.”

The main one is a regular starting place in the Celtic side.

“He is in possession of the jersey and that goes without saying,” Collins went on.

“Leigh has made changes and the important thing for him is to now kick on and take it to the next level.

“He can definitely score goals for Celtic in the Champions League.

“If Leigh gets a sight of goal then he is a fantastic striker of the ball and hits the target so often.”

Collins is bullish about the Hoops’ chances of succeeding where they failed last year and qualifying for the group stages, arguing the availability of skipper Scott Brown this season should make all the difference.

“I think there is no doubt we missed Scott hugely in the qualifiers last year,” said Ronny Deila’s assistant.

“He drives us forward and wins tackles. He wins possession and keeps the ball; he keeps the ball moving and drives his team-mates on.

“We did miss that, he’s very vocal and other players look to him.

“Scott sets the tone and leads by example, if one of the boys is maybe not quite at it he will be straight on to them. He is sort of the coach on the pitch as well, driving them forward.

“And I think he is more than capable of scoring lots of goals for us from midfield because has got good energy.

“He proved that at the end of the season by scoring key goals and hopefully we’ll see more of that this season again.”