There are a million and one reasons why Celtic’s season that promised so much fell of the rails last year, however most supporters would point to Neil Lennon’s dramatic post-match comments as Celtic exited the Champions League qualifiers to Ferencvaros as a huge turning point.
A reminder of what the then Celtic Manager had to say:
“There are some players who may want to leave and have made inroads into that over the last six months or so. Some of you don’t want to be here? Leave. I just want the players who want to be here.”
And former Celt Ryan Christie speaking to Football Scotland, soon found himself a huge part of the debate, as Lennon stated there were players who would rather be playing their football elsewhere – and Ryan Christie, alongside the likes of Olivier Ntcham, Kris Ajer and Odsonne Edouard became part of a group, rightly or wrongly viewed as the ‘Wantaways’.
It was a situation Christie saw as tough to handle and perhaps a little unfair as he admits the manager’s words had been ‘bugging him for a while’.
“It was tough because, number one, I don’t think anyone had stated they were absolutely desperate to leave at that point. A few people had maybe had offers in like Premier League or elsewhere that was promising for them.
“It was so early in the season where it’s a bit different for Celtic when you have such important games at the start of the season that it means you have to be focussed straight away. That’s when the transfer market takes over a little bit at the start of the season.”
So, did Christie feel the manager had to say what he said or could it have been handled differently? Christie appears to believe the result itself in losing to Ferencvaros as a ‘blip’ the Hoops could get over, however, the manager’s comments were something were perhaps harder to do so.
“Did it have to be said? I’m not so sure. I think everyone was desperate to get a result. Everyone in our squad was firing on all cylinders to try and get through.
“Had we got into the Champions League that season I’m sure that would have steadied some players’ heads about leaving because that’s an attraction itself.
“People probably look back at those comments now and think, ‘that’s where it started going wrong so early’ but we took it as a minor blip, it was frustrating but it was still early and in our minds we were still thinking we’ll go on to have a successful season.”
So where did it go wrong according to Ryan Christie? Well, it appears there was no one reason, although the manager’s comments irked some within the changing room, a crazy pandemic inspired landscape also played its part.
“It was strange, even to this day I look back at it as what could have been. It was probably an accumulation of all sorts of reasons. I hate to play the Covid card but it certainly didn’t help and as a squad we just didn’t gel or put together a run of results at any point to gain that confidence.
“It felt like it was getting worse and worse and at a club like Celtic because we’d been so dominant domestically, as soon as that went off course a little bit it seemed to throw everyone off. Us, the supporters, everybody. It was a bit of a shock and we didn’t deal with that too well.
“That was a learning curve in itself. It wasn’t a great time to be involved, you want to be successful. But you come away having learned an awful lot.”
Christie is now plying his trade in the English Championship with Bournemouth, meanwhile Celtic are being revolutionised by Ange Postecoglou. It’s hard not to think Christie may have been an effective player under Postecoglou’s process, however given his experiences in the Hoops last season, it’s perhaps bet for all parties concerned that both sides parted and go their separate ways.
Perhaps there was just too much baggage attached to that season for either side to simply start again.
Niall J
Really can’t believe shit coming out of Christies mouth,so committed he wouldn’t even talk about extending his deal,never kicked a ball in that season he was not alone Iwas one of those many celtic supporters who renewed ST had mine since 1971,All most supporters ask is players give 100%same as supporters glad he’s away
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The lack of professionalism from Christie is astounding. So his boss told him the truth that there was some that didn’t want to be there and that comment drained and deflated any effort to give 100% from several players. Part of the problem with Christie is that he believed the guff his dad was putting out about him being the best player to grace Celtic Park since Jinky. My prediction of him disappearing in the EFL for a few years then back up the road, possibly via Aberdeen on his way back to Caley Thistle, having achieved nothing other than increasing his bank balance. As soon as Lennon told him he was his #10, coupled with his dads comments, he standards dropped and excluding a handful of games, has never regained that level which he was capable. There was many reasons for it going wrong last season, but I would be looking more at the players and their attitudes, more than I would be at a couple of lines stated by the manager. If anything, that should’ve and would’ve inspired any real professional to dig in and shove them comments up the managers a#$e, but he and others chose to roll over and play the victim.