WE WERE FRIGHTENING AFTER DUBAI AND RANGERS COULDN’T COPE WITH THAT

Christie frustrated to miss out on flag day but insists no one can argue that Celtic aren’t worthy champions

‘NOBODY can dispute that it is fair to crown us champions now,’ claims Ryan Christie. ‘When you look at how commanding we were in the league when football stopped it was the right thing to do.’

Even now there are plenty who do dispute the fairness of crowning Celtic the champions of Scotland. Second-placed Rangers had a game in hand. They had yet to play their arch-rivals twice. While many Ibrox fans will concede that their team were unlikely to fight their way back — the way they were playing they might have finished further adrift — Celtic’s nine will always be the subject of catty comments and jibes. To some it will only ever be eight-and-three-quarters.

So long as there was any element of mathematical doubt there are those who will always feel a title could not — and should not — have been awarded. And, to Christie, that creates a whole new level of injustice.

After the winter break Celtic overcame teams Rangers couldn’t. They forged a 13-point lead, a 25-goal advantage and earned a Scottish Cup semi-final against

Aberdeen, with a crack at Hibs or Hearts in the final. That might still come courtesy of an SFA plan to finish the Scottish Cup in the new season, but there was no title podium party.

Football is all about intense emotions and — like the season itself — Celtic celebrations were curtailed and diluted by lockdown. It was an unsatisfactory end to a campaign which promised so much.

‘It is frustrating not to get to finish the season off but we still look back at all the hard work of the season and how well we performed,’ said Parkhead midfielder Christie.

‘It is a wee bit frustrating that we didn’t get to celebrate it with our fans, team-mates and staff.

‘But it certainly doesn’t feel like any less of an achievement, that’s for sure.

‘Hopefully, after everything calms down, we will get the chance to celebrate it in style with everyone. Until then, we just have to sit tight.

At the heart of the proxy war between Celtic and Rangers over the destiny of the 2019/20 season lay three words nobody wanted to say.

‘null and void’ was the preferred option of Ibrox supporters if the last eight games couldn’t be played. And the private, unspoken fear of their rivals across the city.

The SPFL concluded that cancelling the season altogether would cost a good deal more than the £10million Sky and BT Sports could claw back if it was called based on current standings instead.

economics contrived to gift Celtic a title they would rather have won on the park.

‘Absolutely, we wanted to play the games,’ added Christie. ‘even at the weekend past, some of the boys were saying that at that point we probably would have been lifting the trophy.

‘You miss out on that day with the fans at Celtic Park, so of course we wanted to play the games.

‘especially with the form we were in. We were playing some brilliant stuff and scoring a lot of goals.

‘It was frustrating for everyone how things have ended.’

The foundations of a ninth straight title were laid down during a week in Dubai in January.

A first Parkhead win in nine years for Rangers prompted scenes of understandable celebration from

Steven Gerrard and his players. Speaking in Celtic’s Middle east retreat, vice-captain Callum McGregor described that defeat as a ‘wake-up call’. Christie agrees.

‘We’ve spoken a lot about the trip to Dubai. We went out there and pressed the reset button,’ he said. ‘We made sure we were as humble as possible and from the turn of the year we were frightening.

‘Rangers couldn’t cope with that and to be 13 points clear when it stopped says a lot.

‘The gaffer was really good at settling us down after that defeat in December and making sure we were firing on all cylinders.’

The reaction to neil Lennon’s return as Celtic manager on a permanent basis looks a bit silly and overblown now.

When news emerged of the northern Irishman being re-hired in the Hampden showers after a Scottish Cup win over Hearts, Celtic supporters displayed a misplaced sense of entitlement. neither did the Rangers employee who had a poke at the appointment on the club’s Twitter feed cover themselves in glory.

Lennon has a been a calmer, more reflective and tactically flexible Celtic manager second time around. And Christie can’t speak highly enough of his contribution.

‘The gaffer has been great for me and I can’t thank him enough,’ said Christie. ‘He took over last season but I had my facial injury and he didn’t see me playing.

‘It was in my head that maybe he had someone else for my position but from the start he has played me in my preferred role, off the striker.

‘I have enjoyed every minute of it and I have become a better player under him. The gaffer has given me a licence to express myself more.

‘I loved playing under Brendan Rodgers but it was a more rigid formation and a no8 role. The current gaffer has let me loose a bit and you can see that in the goals and assists I have. I am glad that I have repaid him.’

While one of the pressing issues concerning last season has been settled, the questions over football’s return continue to multiply.

The priority for the SFA and SPFL joint response group is to find a way to get the Premiership up and running behind closed doors in order to honour a £125m Sky Sports contract due to pay out £12.5million to clubs on August 6.

Maintaining a cautious approach to relaxing lockdown measures, the Scottish Government have forbidden training until June 10 at the earliest.

‘Since lockdown started, we have had weekly programmes to follow,’ added Christie. ‘But we have now been told to take a week to ten days off as it’s the end of the season.

‘We will relax a bit then hopefully get a proper date to come back in for pre-season training.’

We were playing some brilliant stuff and scoring lots of goals