Ryan Christie’s dad and former Celt Charlie Christie has opened up about his sons sending off on Sunday against Livingston and given some insight into how Ryan is feeling.
The midfielder was sent off in the first half of Celtic’s defeat to Livingston after a very late challenge seen him lunge in at Scott Robertson. It was a clear sending off and it hurt Celtic’s day. However, his manager and teammates have rallied around him in the aftermath. Knowing full well Ryan isn’t that kind of player and it was just a bad decision on the day.
The Celtic star came off social media on Sunday not long after the game to get away from the limelight and stay away from the negative comments he was getting from some.
Celtic fans have also rallied around the player and want him to know he’s still very much appreciated by the vast majority and Sunday’s red card changes nothing.
Speaking to BBC Scotland and cited by SunSport – Charlie told how Ryan is feeling pretty down at the moment.
“He’s gutted. He’s devastated, he’s in the hotel with the Scotland squad but he is feeling pretty down.
“He agrees it was a red card and his main concern was that the lad Robinson wasn’t hurt.
“We’ll see a lot worse tackles this year, a lot more malicious.
“I take my hat off to Gary Holt, it’s easy for managers to have a pop at opposition players but Gary was the opposite.
“He said it was a reckless challenge and a bad decision and that is exactly what it was.
“Ryan is pretty down. I’m feeling for him, it’s a learning curve.”
“It’s a bad decision and he is getting lambasted for it.
“But as I said to him last night when he was very down, ‘it’ll be old news soon’.
“The people that matter know he is not like that, his manager knows that, the opposition manger knows that and anyone with any knowledge in the game knows it.
“There is always going to be supporters who have a pop, that’s the easy thing to do.
“I believe there is a wee bit on social media, I am not a fan of social media for this exact reason.
“I said he’s got to put it behind him and come back more determined.”
Charlie is correct – soon this will be old news and blow over. It appears as if a small minority have had their voices amplified in the aftermath of the game. In reality, Celtic fans are behind Ryan and we want him to know that!
