Barry Robson predicts Aiden McGeady will be the next Celtic player out of Parkhead

Published on Friday 19 March 2010 10:41

Former Celtic midfielder Barry Robson believes Aiden McGeady could be the next player to leave Parkhead as Tony Mowbray shapes his own team.

• Aiden McGeady

Robson was one of eight players to leave the club in January when he signed for Middlesbrough in a move that saw Celtic captain Stephen McManus arrive at the Riverside on loan.

The exodus followed the departures of Shunsuke Nakamura, Paul Hartley and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink in the summer and Robson does not think it will be long before most of Gordon Strachan's signings are gone.

Robson told the Daily Record: "It was evident to me that Tony wanted to do his own thing. He wanted to break up Gordon's team and build one of his own.

"It was pretty obvious but that's fair enough. That's his prerogative.

"I look back on the start of this season as an end of an era. Naka had left, Big Jan had gone and then the likes of Gary Caldwell and Big Mick moved on in January. I knew myself it was time for me to move on too.

"There's a good chance that Aiden will leave in the summer as well because he wants to try something different so it will be completely Tony's team soon."

The Scotland midfielder feels Celtic fans who wanted Strachan out may well be missing the current Boro manager, who clinched three titles in four years at Parkhead.

And he questioned whether the squad that remains at Celtic Park have the character to reduce a 13-point gap on Clydesdale Bank Premier League leaders Rangers.

The 31-year-old said: "I can't remember ever thinking it was over for our team but that was because I looked around our dressing room and it was full of strong players – guys who had been over the course before and knew what it meant to play for the club.

"If Celtic are going to claw it back from here, there's a lot of work to be done and I don't know if the current regime have the same kind of togetherness we had back then. The big question is: Do they have the heart we had?"