PITTODRIE WAS THE PLATFORM
Dons boosted Christie, says McInnes
WHEN Derek McInnes learned Ryan Christie was in talks with Celtic over an improved, extended contract, he must have been tempted to suggest it would only be fair to insert a clause preventing him from playing against Aberdeen.
Alas for the Dons, Christie signed a three-year deal without such an impediment. One of the country’s in-form talents will, therefore, be free to feature for Brendan Rodgers in the Betfred Cup final against the club he spent a fruitful 18 months on loan with before his Parkhead renaissance.
Playing at Hampden for silverware was, of course, a pleasure denied to Christie the season before last. The terms of his initial loan arrangement to Pittodrie decreed Aberdeen couldn’t field him in the William Hill Scottish Cup final.
There was more than one moment in that thriller where McInnes wonders if the craft and killer pass of Christie might have made the key difference before the game was decided in favour of Celtic through Tom Rogic’s stoppagetime strike.
All this, of course, before yet another year of development on Christie’s increasingly sturdy back with Aberdeen created a performer primed for a regular game for the champions and gunning for a medal next Sunday against his old Pittodrie pals. Not that McInnes is content to take much credit for polishing Christie up to become a Parkhead favourite over three years after he signed for Ronny Deila. ‘For me, we just gave Ryan a platform,’ said McInnes.
‘It shows you what can be done when you play regular football. I think we’ve obviously aided that but the credit, for me, is not down to us at Aberdeen.
‘It’s down to Ryan as a boy. He got an opportunity with us and he took it. We’d have loved Ryan back and made several attempts to do exactly that. Although he’s going to line up against us and is in good form, there’s only been a real pleasure in watching him. Especially for Scotland.
‘His Scotland performances were of high quality. His intensity out of possession, the quality of decisionmaking in possession. His assists in the Albania game. All of a high level. He’s got lovely dancing feet, great quality and awareness.
‘While we always used to try to get him to be on the end of the last pass and be the guy that scores, we always knew he had that last quality pass in him to get the assists. He’s done that for Celtic, scored a few too.
‘For him to continue to be prominent and relevant for Celtic, he’s going to have to keep doing that and impacting on results. He’s capable of that.
‘He’s a terrific boy. I know managers say that but he’s up there with the best of the best, in terms of who I’ve worked with as a player and as a boy.’
McInnes recruited the former Inverness forward in January of last year following only a handful of appearances in the first six months of the Rodgers era. When asked if Christie appeared like a young man on his way out of Celtic, McInnes replied: ‘Oh aye, all day long. It looked like a natural parting of the ways.
‘But credit to Celtic, they saw enough to show perseverance in him. And Ryan responded. I spoke to Brendan often enough and the plan was for him to go back more equipped to get into Celtic’s team. He’s obviously been in the manager’s eye since.’