TROLLS LEFTME REELING
RYAN CHRISTIE last night lifted the lid on being victim of online abuse and his anguish at the “shocking” tackle which him made a target. The Celtic playmaker, above, has vowed to bounce back and learn from his red card at Livingston last week.
Christie was sent off for a bad challenge on Scott Robinson during his side’s 2-0 loss. After being subjected to fury by
online trolls Christie closed down his Twitter account.
And the Hoops star said: “I don’t really have the Twitter app. But even if you are not on it, it’s kind of word of mouth.
“Your friends and other people can’t help but show what this person and that person has said.
“It’s basically impossible to stay away from it.
“People say stay away from the app but even if you do that it will always get back to you.
“Things like Instagram are better in a way because you can set it so you can’t really see these sorts of things.
“Twitter is hard. As soon as someone mentions you, it’s straight on to your timeline.
“I think it’s best that I just call it a day.
“At the end of the day, I have realised that it’s maybe just a platform for people to come at you. The quicker you get rid of it, the better.”
While Christie dodged social media, he stood right in front of responsibility for his actions.
The Hoops star took solace from the outlook of Robinson and his manager Gary Holt after speaking to both of them in the wake of Livingston’s shock win.
Christie said: “He [Robinson] was alright. The Livi manager was alright as well.
“It was nice speaking to them and knowing that they had no on-going feelings after it.
“I think they realised I am not that kind of player and I hold my hands up.
“I knew straight away it was a shocking challenge and I had no complaints with the referee or anything like that. It was a terrible challenge.
“But it’s important, and my gaffer at the club has said this, that you bounce back and you learn from it.
“You need to find the line with controlled aggression.
“I was just frustrated with the way I started the game and I ended up lunging in. That’s when you can hurt someone and I was gutted afterwards.”
Christie got back into the swing of things representing Scotland in Russia and is now hoping for an outing against San Marino tomorrow night at Hampden to keep moving on.
He said: “I’m over it now and it helped getting back on to the park in Russia, even though the result was not what we wanted.
“At one point, I just wanted to bury my head in the sand a little bit. It was nice not to be suspended for these [Scotland] games and get a chance. Hopefully, I can get another opportunity on Sunday to bounce back.
“Russia are a good side and we got punished. I don’t know if it was inexperience or what but it was obviously a harsh lesson we need to learn from quickly.
“It’s so frustrating because we do want to build a bit of momentum. We’d all been talking before Moscow about the last four games in the group and building things up.
“All week we worked to come up with a game plan and everyone felt good again.
“We looked as though we could bring a result home and then 57 or 58 minutes we lose a goal. It’s strange because we felt good.
“They created a bit in the first half but we came out and got a foothold in the game.
“That’s just when you need to keep your concentration at its highest and again it’s a set-piece.
“The gaffer was a bit frustrated about that and we need to learn from it quickly.
“Is it hurtful? Yes. For a number of reasons. At any level, I don’t like to use a word like embarrassing, but that’s what it feels like, especially towards the end when Russia were in complete control of the game.
“Also for the gaffer as well who has worked so hard for us and, we feel, has been drilling us really well for the game.
“We’re probably letting him down when it comes to the games right now.
“It’s important for us to go again. It was tough on Thursday, but we need to put in a good performance on Sunday.
“We need to stop this run of defeats and get a win. If we can win convincingly, even better.
“Hopefully, things will come back a bit and get that belief back again. We want to end the trip on a high and look to get two wins in November.”