MARK McGHEE admitted he feared seeing another one of his teams thrashed 9-0 at Parkhead as Motherwell were hammered on the final day of the season.

Back in November 2010, Aberdeen came to the east end of Glasgow to be humiliated by a rampant Celtic side, a result that came just a matter of weeks before McGhee’s departure from Pittodrie.

It was an experience that the 58-year-old confessed that he was worried would be repeated yesterday as his Motherwell team withered in the Celtic Park sunshine. As the home side rampaged towards a trophy party, after just 60 minutes they were already 6-0 up and cruising to another landslide victory before eventually settling for seven.

“Was I thinking about it? Absolutely. When you are six down after 59 minutes of course you are,” said McGhee. “To get to 90 minute at seven wasn’t a bad result.

“It’s a horrible feeling, too right it is. It’s a horrible feeling to be 3-0 down at half-time and there’s nothing you can do about it.

“This has happened to me before. That day I felt I had a team that was capable of losing 9-0.

“I didn’t think I had a side that was capable of losing 7-0. That’s why I am more surprised than anything.”

In terms of league position, yesterday’s thrashing made no difference to Motherwell who already confirmed they would finish the Ladbrokes Premiership in fifth place thanks to their 3-1 win over Ross County in midweek.

However, it was a bruising experience for the players who failed to turn up after applauding their opponents on to the park at the start of the game.

“There comes a point when the energy and desire to get back in to the game is not there,” said the Motherwell manager.

“A felt that was the case. There wasn’t much I could do apart from hope the change in shape might make it more difficult for Celtic.

“But we didn’t do half as well as we wanted as a group.

“It’s disappointing but it’s not catastrophic as it doesn’t affect our position in the league.

“We will go away, lick our wounds and be ready after the summer.”