One of the very easiest indicators last summer that the historic season for Celtic wasn’t going to go according to plan was when Charlie Christie popped up in the Evening Times to tell us that his boy could have been the player of the year the previous season and outlined future ambitions to play in the English Premier League.
This is a subject we’ve covered many times on here, and we mentioned that in the Poll we ran on The Celtic Star, where around 6500 votes were cast Christie didn’t feature prominently in an award that was given to Odsonne Edouard, with Scott Brown, James Forrest, Callum McGregor and Fraser Forster all doing well. No-one was dissing Christie, who had a decent start to the season but suffered a few injuries and missed quite a bit of the season before it was ultimately curtailed.
Charlie Christie and a few other associates of his in the course of last season talked up Christie – identified as one of Celtic’s want away stars last summer – and seldom if ever gave Celtic much of a mention. Credit where it is due works both ways. More than any other player, Christie’s game appeared to change last season as he tried (and failed) to get himself a move to the Premier League, or perhaps a top club on the continent.
His long held Scotland dream of playing in the European Championship, presumably catching the eye of Premier League clubs while starring on that major international stage, turned sour when Steve Clarke hauled him off at the interval in the opener and he was never seen again in that tournament.
Ange Postecoglou arrived at Celtic and here was a manager who looked to want to play football exactly the way that would suit Christie and for a month or so it began to gel. But his target of getting a move to England’s top division was still his priority – his Highlands mate, Stuart Armstrong is on big money at Southampton remember – and on deadline day he had the underwhelming choice of…. Burnley or Bournemouth.
Former Celtic and Scotland winger Davie Provan , now a media pundit, couldn’t quite below that Christie would be playing his football at Bournemouth after his deadline day move from Celtic, describing it as “village green stuff,” as we reported, see below…
READ THIS…“Village Green Stuff” – Ryan Christie’s Bournemouth move is all about money and not football says Provan
And this video shows the passionate nature of the Bournemouth support…
This is genuinely what Christie’s leaving us for ffs pic.twitter.com/dyIZUDH5wF
— James 🇾🇪🍀 (@JamesMW_) August 31, 2021
Here’s Provan making his remarks after Ryan Christie’s £2.5m move from Celtic to Bournemouth was confirmed…
🗣️”They could lose 2 or 3 nil and get applauded off the pitch”
Do you agree with Davie Provan that Ryan Christie has moved to a smaller club than Celtic by going to Bournemouth?
Hear the full chat ⬇️⬇️⬇️
APPLE – https://t.co/ecXPR1JneN…
SPOTIFY – https://t.co/QpbKIaIF5S pic.twitter.com/Aq66pqvCrD— The Go Radio Football Show (@GoFootballShow) September 2, 2021
Provan was back on Go Radio yesterday and gave an update, revealing that he’d received an angry message from his old Celtic team-mate Charlie Christie (who never made a first team appearance for the club) after his remarks on the radio last week. “I got a message after the comments I made on the programme last week where I said it demonstrated a lack of ambition from Ryan Christie.
“His dad Charlie, who I played with at Celtic and was a teammate of mine, messaged me this week and was very unhappy that I suggested Ryan’s ambition was in question.
“Basically he was just trying to point out that he sees Bournemouth as a stepping stone and a chance to kick on. Obviously he sees himself in the English Premier League at some stage.
“I just think he could have got a better club and, to put it simply, I think he’s a better player than Bournemouth. I think he can get a much better club than Bournemouth.”
Barry Ferguson, the former Rangers captain was also on the Go Radio Football Show and was very much in agreement with Provan, having himself left Scottish football to play in the top flight of English football with Blackburn Rovers. “I agree,” Ferguson said. “I was surprised that he chose Bournemouth. Ryan Christie can easily play in the Premier League down in England.
“He’ll have his own reasons for choosing to play for Bournemouth. But for me, Ryan Christie can play in the Premier League. There’s absolutely no question of that.
“We know financially he’s going to benefit with a much higher contract. That’s Ryan Christie’s choice. I’m just going on what I think of him as a football player on the pitch. It’ll be interesting to hear what his reasons were when he does an interview.”
who the heck is Davy Provan some old football er trying to make a name for himself, stick to what you know Davy which appears to be not much outside of Celtic