Critics spurred us on - McGeady

Aiden McGeady believes the hunger to prove their critics wrong drove Celtic to the Bank of Scotland Premier League title.

The Republic of Ireland international insists the Glasgow giants are every bit as good as they have been in the past.

The CIS Insurance Cup and league trophy might be safely in the cabinet, but McGeady feels the players still want to finish the season in some style.

“As a Celtic player you want to go out and win every game,” he said.

“You also want to play with style and just because we have won the title doesn’t mean that we’ll just be seeing out the season or looking at our matches as just another game.

“Our aim is to get as many points as possible this season and take as many wins as we can from our remaining games.

“The 100 points is something we wanted to achieve but that’s just slipped from our grasp now with the draw against Hibs.

“But the main thing is that we have won the title as we had the incentive to prove wrong those people who wrote us off at the start of the season.

“People have said that we’ve not been as good as we have been in recent seasons but Hearts had a good year and are in second place, Hibs and Kilmarnock have been strong and Rangers have done well in Europe.

“We have won the league and the League Cup and that speaks for itself.”

McGeady is relishing the chance to wreck Rangers’ Champions League hopes at Parkhead on Sunday and believes his team-mates can play with freedom, unlike their opponents.

“We have some tough games ahead against four of the country’s top six teams,” he added.

“But the good thing is that we already have the championship wrapped up.

“We are not going into a similar scenario as last season where the games are so nerve-wracking.

“I am not saying we can relax but we can certainly enjoy them a little more now.”

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has promised to send his best possible side out against Rangers.

The champions struggled to get going during the 1-1 draw with Hibernian but the Hoops boss is adamant none of his players will lack motivation in their remaining matches.

Strachan told Celtic View: “We will do the same as we have done for the last two games.

“People may think that we might take our foot off the pedal but beating Kilmarnock 4-1 and our performance against Hibs shows we are still in there and being very professional about it.

“These games don’t need any motivation, this game looks after itself. It doesn’t matter what goes on before the game itself.

“We will approach each of these four remaining games in the same manner as we have prepared for these two games since we won the title.

“We will field the strongest side that we think can play in that game.”

McGeady is also looking forward to showing the “real Celtic” in the Champions League next season.

The Hoops are still waiting to learn whether they will go straight into the group stages and McGeady feels the competition cannot come quick enough so they can lay the ghost of the 5-0 defeat to Artmedia Bratislava.

McGeady said: “From a team point of view we want to get into the Champions League and show that this season’s European showing was not the real Celtic.

“That would help get rid of some of the bad memories and next year to get to the second round would be great.

“The Champions League is the highest level you can play at, certainly with your club, and it would be great to be back amongst that action.

“We have the team now to show that we can go on and do something in Europe.”