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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Ryan Christie and the Ange Postecoglou Celtic reconsideration impact

Ryan Christie admits he had second thoughts about leaving Celtic due to the impressive nature of Ange Postecoglou.

The Scotland international left Parkhead for Bournemouth in the summer of 2021, six months prior to the end of his contract.

The attacking midfielder featured heavily for Postecoglou in his opening games as manager after his arrival from Japan earlier in the year.

The Australian will lead Celtic to a domestic treble if they can overcome Inverness in Saturday's Scottish Cup final at Hampden.

And Christie has candidly opened up on how Postecogloy had him reconsidering his desire to move away from the club.

He told BBC Sport: "I got to see first hand for a couple of months how good Ange was. It was one of the main things in my head when I was thinking about staying.

"I was really impressed and it's not a surprise to me what Celtic have done since he came through the door.

"I got a pre-season under him and I loved the way he wanted to play and loved the way he got his point across on the training pitch.

"He was so all or nothing with his beliefs. When you have that absolute mindset, it normally pays off and you're seeing that with the Celtic team right now."

Should Celtic win at the weekend, Postecoglou will have hoovered up five or the six available trophies in his two seasons in Scotland. It would also complete Celtic's eighth treble in their history.

Postecoglou is said to be Tottenham's top target to fill their vacant managerial role.

But while that situation has still to unfold, Christie insists all of the manager's focus will rightly be on securing Celtic's third trophy this term.

"It's a massive feat," the 28-year-old said. "When I did it, you don't really realise what you've done, putting a run of trebles together.

"Now that Rangers are getting back to their best, pushing Celtic all the way, if they do it, I'll be delighted for some of my old team-mates because it's an incredible achievement.

"You only realise that once you move away or are looking down the line years later."

Our Celtic Digest newsletter brings exclusive content directly to you rather than solely through the website. You can already find us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram but we will also send bespoke opinion pieces and special features directly to your email inbox every evening. Not only will you receive this article from Sean Martin, Tony Haggerty or Aidan Macdonald (or, sometimes, from all three) but you will also get easy access to our best content from the last 24 hours too. It’s a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening at Ange Postecoglou’s Scottish champions. To sign up, simply take five seconds to type in your email here. Simple!

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