Former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan insists Scott Brown gave everything he could to the Parkhead cause.
But his ex-boss believes it was only when the going got tough this campaign that he looked around and realised it was high time someone else did their bit.
Strachan signed Brown from Hibs in the summer of 2007 and, 14 years later, will likely be watching on as a pundit when his former skipper takes on Rangers for the final time in green and white on Sunday.
He had a long-standing joke with the midfielder that his first choice in his position was in fact his former Hibs team-mate Kevin Thomson - who signed for Rangers six months before Brown made the switch - but believes he'll be relishing the chance to share his leadership and influence at Aberdeen from this summer.
Speaking in his Herald column, Strachan said: "Imagine spending 10 years having to listen to: 'Come on Scott, can you get us going?' There has to be a point where you turn around and say: 'Can you not get yourself going? I'm trying my best, but really?'
"That's what has happened this year. Scott hasn't been playing sometimes and hasn't been at his best at others. Callum McGregor has sometimes not been at his best. Mikael Lustig had gone and so had Craig Gordon, good solid people.
"The question has been: "Can you get us going?" and the answer has come back negative, because a lot of people just couldn't get going.
"Scott will have an added energy with this new challenge.
"There are a lot of Aberdeen players who will be looking forward to his influence rubbing off on them, and I think he will enjoy that too.
"I remember the joy I got from working with those young guys in the reserves at Coventry. I berated them, and I scolded them, and I hugged them, and it was great. And I think that Scott will love that too.
"I know fine well he is looking forward to the challenge. You have to say, he has exhausted every piece of energy he had for Celtic, that's for sure, and it must be a great thing to leave a club and think: 'I couldn't have done any more'. Scott would never say that, but that is what he has done and that is how he should feel in a couple of years' time when he looks back at it.
"He isn't going to get the send-off he perhaps deserves at Celtic, but I don't think that will bother him too much. If you know him, it's all about competing, and driving on.
"He won't realise it, but for the rest of his life now, wherever he goes in the world, trust me, he's going to get a tap on the shoulder and a thank you from someone. On days when you are not at your best and someone says: 'Well done Gordon, thanks for that', it just kicks you on and you feel a bit better.
"I always kid him on that I tried to get Kevin Thomson first before I signed him. I remember when we signed Derek Riordan too, Gary Caldwell said that was a good move, but we had missed out on a real cracker in Brown."
