Tony Mowbray shrugs off Robson claims that McGeady may leave Celtic

TONY Mowbray insists he has no interest in what former players have to say about the way he is managing the club.

The Celtic manager has made wholesale changes to the Parkhead squad since taking over from Gordon Strachan in the summer. However, there were some eyebrows raised in January when players who had won titles and trophies under Strachan, such as Gary Caldwell, Scott McDonald and Barry Robson, were allowed to leave, while club captain Stephen McManus went out on loan.

Earlier in the week McDonald was reported as saying that he was puzzled at some of the decisions Mowbray had made during the short time they had worked together. Robson yesterday claimed the Celtic manager had wanted to break up Strachan's squad and that Republic of Ireland winger Aiden McGeady could be next to leave.

However, Mowbray, preparing for today's Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash with St Johnstone, said: "The bottom line is that it's not worth commenting on, is it, really? It is just an ex-player who thinks that something might happen. I am not interested in what an ex-player thinks may happen. The club and I will decide what changes are made in the summer and I would suggest that Aiden isn't going to be part of those changes."

Mowbray is adamant, though, that he has no problem with Robson who was sold to Middlesbrough for a fee thought to be around 1.2million. "I had a very good working relationship with Barry Robson when he was here," he said.

"I am not sure Barry totally has his eye on what his happening here. I am quite sure that some journalist, probably from Scotland, went down there and asked him a leading question and he answered it. No-one is going to put a wedge between me and a lad that I got on very well with. I wish him well in his career."

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 (Shunsuke Nakamura] had left, Big Jan (Vennegoor of Hesselink] had gone and then the likes of Gary Caldwell and Big Mick (McManus] 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 visiting manager at Parkhead today, Derek McInnes, was keen to highlight a couple of Mowbray's signings as he pinpointed strikers Robbie Keane and Marc Antoine Fortune as the main threats for his St Johnstone side to focus on.

Republic of Ireland international Keane has quickly adapted to the rigours of Scottish football after arriving on loan from Tottenham in January and his hat-trick against Kilmarnock last week took his tally to eight in eight games. However, McInnes accepts Fortune will be just as dangerous, having scored four goals in the previous two meetings between the teams this season.

"There were a lot of positives to be taken from the first game at Parkhead when we lost 5-2, but we never defended well enough and good players punished us," McInnes said. "Now Celtic have even more quality with Robbie Keane.

"It's great for the SPL we have managed to attract someone of his quality. For the last decade he has been one of the best half-dozen strikers in England. He can do everything as a striker, but it would be wrong to say we will just concentrate on him.

"Fortune has scored four against us and the challenge for us is to keep him out. But they also have other players who can change the game so from the first to the last minute we will be aware of the threat. We have lost five and four against Celtic which is horrendous, but over the piece our defensive record is not too bad."

McInnes is having to contemplate the possibility of travelling to Glasgow without 12 players and

has learned that 22-year-old Kevin Moon could be out until September with a damaged cruciate ligament, the injury sustained during Tuesday's win over Aberdeen.

He said: "It's a huge blow for Kevin. I was wanting to freshen the team up with the game against Falkirk coming up next week, but we will have to ask the same boys again, and physically it will be tough.

"But we will be determined to go there and get a result and if we defend well I wouldn't put it past us doing so."