Christie’s journey from ICT kid to Celts hero
FROM the moment the ball arrowed into the Murrayfield net in the Betfred Cup last term Ryan Christie has refused to look back.
It’s little wonder why – it is not in his make-up to do so.
Since his 2015 arrival the Celtic midfielder has had to wait, wait and wait a little more for his chance.
But on an October afternoon in Edinburgh last year he’d had enough of all that.
A place in the Betfred Cup Final awaited but Hearts are holding the holders having already beaten them in the league earlier in the season.
Christie had flitted in and out of the side but one popped Olivier Ntcham hamstring and a swing of his left boot later everything changed.
Forced down the long road to the first team over three years Celtic’s slow burner suddenly exploded.
His side-footed strike found the top corner, Celtic won 3-0, a turning point on his long road.
Christie grew up in Inverness and that’s where he received his formative football education.
Dad Charlie, a former Celtic reserve player, took it upon himself to form an Under-10 side at Caley Thistle where he was still involved as a player-coach.
The club didn’t yet have one and he wouldn’t have his boy poached up the road by Ross County.
He was one of 60 kids who were eventually whittled down to just 16, a group that then entered Caley’s academy set-up.
But the young Christie displayed an intelligence far beyond that of his peers and was soon playing up a level.
His dad said: “From a young age he had very good game knowledge and awareness. That’s one of the hardest things to teach a youth player.
“Ryan had that from a young age, he watched a lot of football on TV.
“And the fact I’d played meant he’d seen a lot of games.”
When the time came his road into the Inverness first team was the very antithesis of what lay ahead at Celtic.
John Hughes replaced Terry Butcher as boss in December 2013 and requested youth-team training be scheduled so as not to clash with the senior squad, allowing him to get a look at players coming through.
Within a minute of his first visit, Hughes had made his mind up.
“Who’s that?” he asked coach Scott Kellacher.
“That’s Ryan Christie, Charlie’s boy,” came the reply.
The 17-year-old didn’t know it yet but as of Monday he’d be training with the first team from now on.
Before the month was out he’d debuted against Celtic.
Appearances were fleeting at first but tussling with the likes of Graeme Shinnie on the training pitch was enough for now.
Christie’s dad maintains if you make demands BY LIAM BRYCE from him he’ll respond to you. So that’s what Hughes did.
He said: “We used to test him during seven-a-side in training.
“If he got knocked or fouled we’d shout, ‘Play on!’. He’d just get up, look at you, laugh and get on with it.
“We were testing him for that reaction – he’s nobody’s mug.
“And the boys looked after him. They really respected his technical ability and welcomed him in as part of the team.”
He was at Hampden two years later.
Christie, now a vital member of Hughes’ side, shone as Caley upset Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-final. Hughes let slip to Christie Snr ahead of the game he planned to pin his boy up against Emilio Izaguirre, believing he could wreak havoc as the underdogs went after the treble-chasing Hoops.
It worked with Christie and Shinnie in inspired form.
Caley went on to defeat Falkirk in the Final and suddenly the cat was out the bag.
Celtic, stunned by this skinny kid from up north who seemed to just glide away from everyone in his path, sat up and took notice.
When Christie helped himself to a goal and an assist at Parkhead four months later, Ronny Deila and John Collins were in Hughes’ ear afterwards.
The former Caley manager said: “I pulled Ryan over before the game and said, ‘I’m going to leave you on the bench and see where we are at halftime but no matter what you’re going on at half-time. Celtic are looking at you and the stage will be yours’.
“He went on in the second half and was magnificent. After the game I saw JC and Ronny and that’s when Ronny asked all about him.” They weren’t the only ones. Hughes received a call from Eddie Howe at Bournemouth hinting a bid might be in the post.
Whether it arrived or not was ultimately irrelevant because as soon as Celtic firmed up their interest that was it.
There was already an affinity – Christie’s dad had been on the books at Parkhead and he himself was among the masses when Tony Watt scored against Barcelona in 2012.
Aged 20, he signed a four-year deal but was immediately loaned back to Inverness, only to be recalled in December with a knee injury.
It made hitting the ground running near impossible and he was on the fringes by the time Brendan Rodgers arrived in 2016.
Christie made just seven appearances as the winter break rolled