Christie is no longer such a pain in Shinnie’s eyes

GRAEME SHINNIE was never fooled by the angelic face. The Aberdeen midfielder always knew his former Inverness Caley Thistle team-mate Ryan Christie had a devilish steak and so could have done without the reminder when the pair clashed in near vicious circumstances last season. Loaned straight back to the Highlanders after his transfer to Celtic, Christie struck a blow for his new employers by scoring one and assisting another in a 2-1 win that halted the Dons’ unbeaten run and damaged their hopes of mounting a title challenge. He caused further pain by twice clattering into his old pal in the same game to earn a red card.

‘I had a word with him about that when he arrived,’ said Shinnie, who has been reunited with the 21-year-old at Pittodrie for the rest of the season. ‘He fouled me twice but Ryan has that in his game, which is always good. He’s a young boy who is fresh and plays with no fear in his game, so it’s a good lift for us to have him in.’

Given their status as Celtic’s closest title challengers over the past couple of seasons, there are some Aberdeen fans who feel uncomfortable at Derek McInnes’s decision to enlist one of the Parkhead club’s fringe players for the second portion of the season.

Christie, who netted Aberdeen’s late second in yesterday’s 2-0 home win over Partick Thistle, may indeed be in the north east to sharpen up his game ahead of another crack at forcing his way into Brendan Rodgers’ plans for next season, but Shinnie believes the deal benefits all parties.

‘It was a great move for him to go to Celtic, probably a dream come true since he’s a Celtic supporter,’ he said. ‘Ryan would always have known it would be difficult to cement a place.

‘He’s racked up some games with Inverness and he’ll look to do that now with us. I’ve played with him since he was a young boy coming through at Inverness and he’s got massive talent.

‘It was clear he had the talent from the off. He was a relatively quiet boy but he let his football do the talking. He also had a great mentor in John Hughes. Yogi knew in his first season when to play him, when to rest him, how to bed him into the squad. By the time the season came when we won the Scottish Cup and finished third in the league, he was flying.

‘He’s had a good upbringing. His time will come when he gets into the team and then he can show what he can do.’

While Christie arrived, much of McInnes’s January was spent straining to keep his squad together. A raft of first-team players, including captain Ryan Jack, Ash Taylor, Andy Considine and Niall McGinn, are out of contract in the summer, while Jonny Hayes was the subject of failed bids from Cardiff City during the transfer window.

News that Hayes may be on the brink of signing a new contract has brightened the mood and Shinnie hopes the club can next make a concrete announcement on a planned £10million training ground to reinforce the feelgood factor.

‘It was vital to keep Niall and Jonny in this squad,’ said Shinnie (left), who is tied to the club until the summer of 2019. ‘We were just happy to stay intact at the end of January.

‘This is a massive club. I made the decision to come here because I know how big the fan base and the expectation is.

‘The gaffer recruits really well and, hopefully, we’ll soon have a new training ground.

‘That would take the club to a new level. You can do more, practice more. It’s definitely the next step for this club.’