A contract running down, more wages on offer, a chance at playing in the Premier League – it was always obvious that Ryan Christie was going to leave Celtic.
Burnley, Everton, Crystal Palace et al all showed an interest in the Scotland international having had just six months left on his contract.
Yet his surprise move to Bournemouth – who ply their trade in the second division of England raised a few eyebrows. Many believed he wasn’t cut out for the demands of the Premier League or even the title race and European football in Glasgow.
However, Christie has told of his reasons for leaving Celtic – citing that he learned that he was ready for something different in his career despite learning how to deal with pressure.
“I was ready for something different,” he said to the BBC.
“I was at Celtic for six years, I’d played in Scotland for all of my career and I wanted to go and try something new. It had got to the point that going into the season we [Celtic] were thinking that if we don’t win the treble then it’s not a success, which is a crazy bar to set yourself. When it did eventually go the other way, it was so shocking to everybody – fans and players. We weren’t used to it and it hit us hard.”
The results of last season meant that Celtic finished without silverware for the first time in 12 years, given that the Scottish Cup victory over Hearts in December 2020 was instead awarded for the contest that was halted the season before.
But Christie has chosen to dwell on the failings of Neil Lennon’s second spell as something positive for the club, claiming he learned to deal with pressure and failure the hard way.
“You learn more from defeat. I learned about me as a person and how I could deal with my emotions outside of football, how do I turn myself off [from the pressure]. I realise now how important that side of things can be. At a club like Celtic it’s near impossible to turn off from football, but I had to learn how to do that and sometimes you have to learn the hard way.
“It’s the ups downs that come up with football. You wouldn’t be the first person to mention that the place [Celtic] was stressed last season. People close to me said it. Family members. They noticed it in me, just getting caught up in it. They got caught up in it, too, because everyone is desperate for you to do well.”
It hurt more than anything that theRangers managed to snag a title from the clutches of history, but Christie’s mind has been eased since.
“When you’re in that Celtic and Glasgow bubble it’s non-stop. When things are going well, it’s amazing and when things are going not so well it’s hard to get your mind off it. It’s just nice to be past that and enjoying everything again.”
It perhaps is an indictment as to his absence from a great again Celtic side. Joining up with one of the better sides in the English second tier, the pressure and intensity of the constant success that Celtic demand from its players maybe got too much for him…
