 Hello and welcome to the official AFC Bournemouth podcast coming to you from Vitality Stadium. We're here to bring you closer to some of the personalities connected to the club throughout the course of this season. Now for those who haven't tuned in before, my name is Zoe Rundle and I'm part of the media team here at AFC Bournemouth. As ever, we're joined by Mr Bournemouth himself, my colleague Neil Perrett is here at Vitality Stadium alongside me. Neil, it's fair to say we've had an enjoyable few weeks watching the lads out there. Always enjoyable when they're winning to watch them isn't it, Zoe? Of course it isn't. I've got to say today's guest in all my time watching and covering the club has probably made more of an impact than any other player I can I can think of in well too many years to to to remember but really looking forward to today's podcast yeah. Absolutely we've got a really exciting guest on our podcast today. It's a man who's only signed for us in the summer but has already made quite the impact on the pitch as Neil has said. We're looking forward to delving into his early years, testing his Scottish knowledge and discussing life on the South Coast. So without further ado we're delighted to welcome Ryan Christie onto the AFC Bournemouth podcast. Ryan it's great to see you, thank you for joining us. How are you enjoying life down here? I'm loving it, thank you very much for having me. Yeah it's great I feel like I've settled in nicely now to the area and stuff and I feel you know fully part of the team now which is nice. Well we're gonna get straight into it we really appreciate you joining us. Now to kick start us here today we've done our research but we've gone a little bit above and beyond today and we've spoken to someone who knows you better than anyone we're going to hear from him now. Watching his career, the club career has been just phenomenal so far in its case but I'm a big Scotland fan I was at the you know the last time we had a big tournament you know Neil was 90 I was there I went to Paris to watch it with six pals and you know I've often take big interest in how the national team do. I think it's important for our football in this country that we do well we've had a really disappointing two decades so in 2017 and I got the tip of that day that he was going to play that night you know I'm not saying who by but I still couldn't believe it until I saw the team lines and I were kicked off they were playing the dachshund for Todry and Marky Mackay who I knew Marky and he started drawing in fact he played the whole game he had a very good game against a very good dachshund so you know when your shins out there singing the national anthem for a father it's involved in football there's not a lot better to be honest. Ryan we've got a couple of other clips coming up from your dad Charlie during the podcast he played for and managed in Vanessa Caledonian this we had two years it's Celtic as a player and he's now the academy manager back at in Vanessa I know it's a silly question really but just tell us how much of an influence he's had on your career. Yeah massive I think you know now that I look back at it I realise kind of how fortunate I am having him kind of you know so close to me in terms of someone who's been through football done the career you know knows the the pitfalls and stuff like that and when I was growing up he was my coach throughout the the Inverness youth when I was coming up there and you know there were certainly times where I didn't enjoy it as much because you know if we didn't play so well everybody got a role looking after the game but I mine continued to dinner time until I went to bed so you know it wasn't great in that aspect but like I said now that you know I've kind of grown and managed to to get myself a football career I look back at it and think you know it was absolutely priceless. We'll come on to that a little bit later we've got a little bit more of a clip about that but so your dad his dad and your uncle Ian were all footballers it sounds like a bit of a no-brainer that you were going to follow them was there any peer pressure or were you just sort of kicking a ball around for the moment you could walk? Yeah I think that was it I think you know obviously having so many people around you that are just football fanatics and definitely helps when you're when you're younger obviously in Inverness it's quite a small place there's not too much to do you know so the first opportunity my dad would have got to put a ball at my feet and you know he would have done it and I think everybody you know up there in my family just constantly kind of lives football you know so it's always it was always around me from a young age and all these kind of like little 1% probably have helped me get to you know manage to to kind of break into the football world and yeah like I said now that again now that I look back at it you don't really realize it when you're younger but it's now when you look back and think God all these all these little things probably paid played an important role. Now we understand that in Inverness's arch rivals Ross County tried to sign you as a 10 year old selling sending you a letter asking you to go there for a trial but your dad pulled rank just tell us about that. Yeah I definitely don't have the the hatred that he still has for that for that rivalry but yeah I think I don't even think that decision was remotely me at all that was all him but I think at the time they actually had their academy started a year younger than Inverness's so you know it was either there or nothing but I think my dad was responsible to kind of kick the Inverness into gear when he heard that when he heard that Ross County could be an option for me. I think he almost went as far as to say that Inverness didn't have an under 10 setup he went to the board and they sanctioned giving him some money so he could form an under 10 team so they could almost keep you at the club as well is that that's what he said to me? Yeah well that shows you how much that rivalry means to him he was he was that was his driving force to get that up and running and yeah I was I was Inverness through and through from then on out. Now you weren't the tallest as a youngster did that ever hold you back or did you ever have any concerns that you know it might mean that you don't quite make the grade? Yeah I was very small I got it I was funny I was speaking about this last night but yeah I was I was I was really small as a youngster and then obviously I played up a year which which didn't help at all and especially in the Scottish game there's quite a big kind of stigma about you know it's very very physical and that's probably one of the first things that they look for if you can handle the physical side of the game and you know I think it's getting better now but you know a couple years ago you know you're kind of technique and that was that was the kind of second thing they looked for but yeah I got very lucky in terms of that kind of breaking point in football in 16-17-18 I seemed to hit a bit of a growth spurt then at the perfect time which was nice but yeah there was there was a couple of the times in my younger days getting thrown off the ball. Did it make you stronger as a player? I think it made me realize that I needed to be sharper on the ball so that hopefully nobody can get near me to push me off it but yeah it definitely helped that I had also a kind of period at the under 15s in Scotland they jumped from under 15s to under 17s and I think then it would have been too big a jump for me to then go play two years above so I kind of stayed under 15s for a year which which really kind of helped me you know I didn't get completely bullied at that age group and you know from then on I managed to kick on which was nice. Now I want to ask what was life like growing up in Inverness for people that are listening to this from Bournemouth the city has a smaller population than Weymouth so it's obviously a very small place and it's also been voted one of the happiest cities to live in in the UK. Yeah it's a beautiful place beautiful part of the world and you notice that more and more the older you get but when you're younger it's one of these places you're just kind of there's not much to do and you know you're desperate to maybe go out and see a bit more of the big bad world so I think football wise definitely helped me because I mean you've just kind of got your your group of friends and everybody that's everybody's main goal is just to become a football player and everybody obviously you all play in the same team you play against each other at school level everybody knows each other and you know so then when school finishes it's all the same people down the park playing football every night so yeah my kind of childhood growing up was just football 24 seven out the back garden out in the parks which was good now we asked your dad for any anecdotes from your youth football days and this is what you came back with but one of the ones I always remember is we used to go away we still do well obviously after covid we just go away to tournaments abroad so we were in Denmark at quite a good tournament the Dana Cup it's called and we're a squad I think we're under 15s at the time and we're traveling again it was quite we're playing a good Swedish team full time team and we're playing in the court finals the competition and we're driving the tournament we stayed in a village about half an hour from the tournament and we just got to the venue where this court finals going on the boys are quite tense even as as coaches I was a coach there over to see the whole event and I just said right guys you've got everything you know you've got your juice your water bottles your snacks everything blah blah blah thinking no problem at all one person pipes up I forgot my boots oh my word me honestly the other two coaches at the time I wasn't quite a quick temper shall we say and you're quite tense as it is anyway because you've got this court final knockout match to look forward to and I've got junior telling me that of all things he's gotten his match boots so we've had to say one of the coaches but luckily we've found somebody with one of the parents that were over with a car bit hard a car so they basically broke the speed limit driving back to the tail but I don't like it took me about three days he's lucky actually because he scored in the game we beat the Swedish team we beat them 2-1 and Ryan scored but that saved his bait in a little bit you know I think it took me about 72 hours to speak to him that was your dad there obviously reliving that story you were laughing along as if you remembered it just give us your side of the story just let it go it's 17 years old you know what I mean just let it go we won the game we got to the semi-finals it worked out fine I knew as soon as he said we were on the way in the minibus the flashbacks came straight away but yeah well that was a nervous time and I'd noticed that I just forgot the boots early on and it took me a good 10 minutes just to muster up the courage to let somebody know about it there's been more than one occasion silly stuff like that but yeah it's like he said I think because I've actually went on to have quite a good game that's saved me a little bit but yeah funny times so just confirm you remember your juice you remember your snacks and you probably remember your shin pads but not your boots how does that happen I know I know that's ridiculous oh so bad I actually ended up doing that again um three or four years later and I I couldn't I can't think I remember thinking I cannot make the same mistake again and I let him know and luckily another one of the boys had a spare pair of boots um but I'm a size like seven seven and a half and he was a size 10 and I wore his size 10 boots in a game and just thought this is better than telling it now schooling was very important to you as well obviously with your dad's influence in that just give us an insight into your younger days your sort of daily routine your schooling and your football how that all intertwined um yeah I quite enjoyed school to be honest um obviously for me football was you know that was the main aim for me it was never going to change and even to this day when people say what would you what would you have done if you weren't a footballer I don't really have an answer for them which you know some people think that's a bit crazy but sometimes I argue that's the mindset you've got to have to to be a footballer but um my dad you know at the same time was was pretty strict on on making sure I had my kind of qualifications in place and when I had the opportunity at the end of we call it secondary school up in Scotland um to to kind of move in full time to football um my dad had told me kind of you need to this is what you need to get in your in your grades if you don't get this then you're not doing it so you know I had to kind of buckle down for a couple years and and make sure I got them um and then after I think he was happy that I had that kind of that backup if if I ever needed it and if football didn't didn't go well yeah like I said I enjoy I enjoyed school and the nice thing about Inverness is quite small that everybody you know knew that I obviously wanted to be a footballer but in terms of like my teachers everyone like that was accommodating for that um you know nobody kind of stood my way and and all the teachers and PE teachers and everyone was always doing anything they can if I had to leave school early for for training or anything like that um you know which is really nice now your dad's told us that you're a bit of a bright spark so we're going to actually put that to the test now got a little uh six six quickfire questions for you three on Scotland and three on Dorset so we're going to kick off with the Scottish questions which famous Scottish figure was depicted in the 1995 film Braveheart I'll be William Wallace one out of one it's an easy one to start very good when is st Andrew's day oh oh oh my word I honestly have no idea I'll say random guess 17th of May not far out 30th of November wow okay yeah you might you might be able to redeem yourself with this one how many miles did the proclaimers walk that'd be 500 give two out of three yeah three on scotland it's past marks moving on to Dorset these are all multiple choice slightly easier for you so what is Dirtle Door is it a local delicacy a landmark or a well-known restaurant I think that's a landmark one out of one which of these players did not play for the cherries Paul Gascoigne Rio Ferdinand or George Best question um I'll say Paul Gascoigne yeah you're right very good we thought you might have gone for George Best there but yeah it was either yeah two out of two you could get more on the Dorset questions than you did on the scotland ones really feeling at home which of these is not in Dorset piddle trend tied apple cross or scratchy bottom scratchy bottom what I'll say um apple cross you're correct you know where it is it's in Scotland it's in islands is it yeah yeah I thought it's part of the north coast 500 I'm pretty sure that so three out of three on Dorset and two out of three on Scotland not but not bad not bad um going back to your education your dad has said that if you were to get five hires which is obviously equivalent to A-levels for anyone that doesn't know in your final year at school he would let you give football a crack how determined did this make you or did were you determined enough anyway it sounds like you know there was no other choice for you and there was no other career in mind so it certainly sounds like you were very very determined anyway yeah I think um I was just desperate to to play football and obviously at that age the sound of kind of full-time football you know you're used to kind of training maybe twice a week when you're growing up in school on the side but the thought of just football being your life every single day is just like a dream come true so obviously when he said that I realized you know if this is the one thing kind of between me and that goal and you know I'm just gonna have to knuckle down and do it and to be fair there was a few a few tutors needed and an extra time at school but um yeah I managed to get there thankfully and um yeah he stayed true to his word I've got to ask what subjects did you get these five hires in I got them in maths, English, chemistry, biology, PE of course and then I did a sixth actually I did the history as well I'm pretty sure you didn't get one on famous dates in Scottish history at all no no we did World War II I'm pretty sure so uh cause me about that next time. Your father was obviously very demanding on you as a kid as he said to yourself a couple of your coaches had told him that they thought he was too hard on you sometimes and this is what your dads had to say on that. I'm not one of the forgiving plaudits to be honest I'm quite the minor I've got a daughter as well as a son they'll both tell you I'm quite demanding you know I'm the academy director in Vanessa and sometimes I don't think we challenge our kids enough and demand enough of them you know it's so I was always demanding of Ryan the physical physical aspect of it was a challenge from when he was younger especially playing that year at Neil and the following year we went to Denmark for that tournament the following year we went to Lisbon it's the best tournament we've ever played in we were rubbing shoulders with Marseille sporting Lisbon Benfica really top teams were taking sides there and we got to the same as we actually got knocked out by the penalties in the semifinals that year and my two coaches were back at the hotel after getting knocked out we were a wee bit deflated but we'd done well and my two coaches turned around to me and they said two things they turned around me and says you're awful hard on the young fella and I could take it from them because they're both older than me and they're both experienced they've both played the game and they says you're awful hard on young Ryan you give me you demand so much of him and then they both turn around and says he's got a hell of a chance and I'm going and he was 15 at the time I says do you think so guys and they says honestly Charlie you don't you know I know you like him you see him as a good player but I don't think you're realising really how good he is and the potential he's got so that was the first time I really thought you had a genuine chance you know and it was interesting in that tournament we played a Spanish lower league team in the group stages we beat them quite heavily and their coach came up to us after the game really pleasant guys spoke perfectly English as usual and he actually we were talking to him he says what players of ours do you stand out and he says oh he says you're number six and it's funny Neil because I couldn't remember who was playing number six in the day and he says your number six is head and shoulders but I've ever nails and I thought I'm rather coach Ronnie turn and goes that's Ryan he's talking about it's quite funny you know but you know and obviously Spaniards they like that type of player Neil don't they you know that was obviously your dad talking about you know you playing all these youth competitions and realising when you might have been good enough to make it when would it for you that you sort of realised in your head okay I actually could have a career in this um I'm not too sure to be my it's strange to kind of think back to my mindset obviously you get asked quite a lot when you eventually kind of start playing professionally or you know when you make it in football um but I didn't really ever think like oh I might have a chance it was a bit more this which sounds bad but a bit more kind of happy go lucky with it where I just thought this is just what I love to do and as long as I keep doing this for as long as I can I'm just going to see where it kind of takes me and it's just you know something that I've just pride myself on so um yeah obviously when it got to maybe kind of under 18s under 19s at Inverness then it's a weave it kind of creeps into your mind okay like I need to try and break into this first team whenever I can or you know impress the manager when I get the chance but up until then it was you know just playing because I absolutely loved it and I really enjoyed playing football and it's obviously nice kind of hearing stuff I've never heard that story before so shows you how much he tells me but um yeah it was you know it is nice kind of hearing stuff like that um I think people were kind of talking about me making it maybe way before I realized that I had a proper chance. Now six of your intake were taken on as professionals by the club which I think is very rare for that that amount of players from one intake. Terry Butcher offered you your first pro professional contract I believe. Do you keep in touch with any of the other five and who are they? A couple yeah um that obviously we came that that age group was like my dad was saying we came from like the under 12s all the way through so you know it's who you played football with throughout your whole kind of childhood so we became so close and um you know it was I mean me um Liam Paul was still plays he he he made it he's playing at Kilmarnock now in Scotland he was at Liverpool Motherwell for a bit um and it was kind of me and him he me and him played in centre midfield um and then the other guys are mostly there's you know there's the Highland League up in Scotland some of them play in that and then some of them are just at amateur level but um you know anytime I go up to Inverness it's so small if you if you're out on a Saturday night you normally bump into one of them and then you know all the kind of old stories and catching up comes out which is nice but yeah even moving into that kind of full-time aspect of football because you were so used to having everyone around you it was less kind of scary it was just like you know now we're just trading every day with the same group of boys and and it was not as competitive I think I think I you know when I moved to Celtic and I see there you kind of youth team I see like it's it's a lot more kind of cutthroat and they're in the same team but they realize that you know it's there's maybe one or two limited spots whereas I think we were all just kind of in this collective that we love playing football and if one of us makes it then amazing just tell us about Terry Butcher a famous man in England history obviously that bloodied picture of him stands out for everybody what was he like to sort of meet if you like and play play under as a young lad scary that's the first word that comes to mind for me um obviously incredibly successful football player like you said probably obviously a bit too old for me to have appreciated but as soon as someone like that's your manager you do your kind of background on them um but yeah I can obviously had this massive aura about him um walking around the the training ground day to day um and then when I was younger just going into the under 19s um like on a match day a first team match day my job was like stand outside the first team change room if anyone needs anything get them it without asking any questions basically um but I also then heard through the door you know if it wasn't going so well his his wrath and oh my god I just remember thinking I'd be in tears if I was there right now so um that was a bit of an eye opener to men's professional footballer for me when I was still you know pretty young um but listen obviously very successful in Vanessa it's time in Vanessa he kind of lifted in Vanessa from when he came in and the championship um or it was leave on back then and got the club back to um the the top the top flight and then kept them there and maintained a a high level um you know in that aspect I was quite lucky of of where where the club was at when I came into the system have you heard that from inside the changing room under Scott Parker since you've been here I'm not going to let too much away but uh yeah I'm sure it's hopefully not hopefully it doesn't go hopefully I never see it but um you know I'm sure I'll see it soon Terry Butcher left for Hibbs in November 2013 he was replaced by John Hughes just tell us about working under him um I honestly couldn't speak high enough about John Hughes um just an unbelievable football person in terms of he he's never had the recognition he has for how good a football brain he he has he obviously is from I think quite a rough part in Edinburgh um you know so that kind of accent he's got he's got with him and he's quite kind of rugged and down to earth um but you know when you strip that back and realize the kind of ideas he has and what he changed in Vanessa because when he came in obviously Terry Butcher very successful quite direct football that we played um he came in in the kind of January um he didn't really change too much early on because it was the middle of a season he didn't want to upset too much but that following pre-season and that's when I kind of came into the the first team properly um and we started playing out you know from the back and just playing total football which in Scotland is you know it's quite hard to do with you know the pitches up there and the weather and um yeah from from where he then took the the team and not really bringing in players of his own either he did it with what he came in with um and just the perfect manager for me in terms of the way he wanted to play suited me in terms of how he dealt with me as a young guy and and just kind of drip drip feeding me first team football was amazing and you know anytime I'm speaking on a podcast or anything like that I try and speak as high as I can about him because just I don't think he gets the recognition he deserves now he obviously thought very highly of you as well because it's we haven't got a clip from your dad here but when I spoke to your dad earlier this week he relayed this story about when John came in the under 19s and the first team at Inverness trained in the same place but obviously on different pitches John would train the first team and he'd go over and watch the under 19s training with his coach Scott Kellager and um John John looked at Scott and he said um that lad there uh who is that and apparently Scott said you're joking aren't you that that's Charlie's son Ryan Christie and John said well why is he training here and Scott said well he's in under 19 and he you know plays with the under 19s and apparently John said well from what I'm seeing he's the best player at the club make sure he's in with the first team on Monday that must have been a huge confidence boost for you to come fast track like that if you like yeah that again that was only a story I only heard kind of recently I heard him speaking on a podcast and he said that yeah it's obviously really nice he was similar to my my old man in ways that he you know he didn't give you too much praise he wasn't like he picked me up and carried me to the first team himself but he you know he he pulled me up and then just just kind of let me play while trained for a good few months for the first team um you know he's quite hard on me I remember at that time like for some reason I was the only player in training I just wasn't allowed to get fouls so like the bigger boys would just lump kick lumps out of me and I would look at him and then you just play on that was it um which I laugh at looking back at now it used to wind me up in training but um yeah just like I said before the way he kind of dealt with me and um then we then played Aberdeen in the league cup final um where we got beat on penalties actually but I was named in the squad to travel and I thought I was just there to basically carry the hampers in and out of the the stadium um and then we got to the hotel and he put me on the bench and I thought oh my god this is happening um and then he put me on an extra time um and I don't think I breathed for the whole time I was on the pitch but I mean just looking back at that now in terms of the significance of that game you know to put a young guy in I just think you know it's you know it's quality from him and and then from then on I didn't really look back and and he helped with that he just kind of drip feed me more and more into the team again I was lucky towards the end of that season the team were kind of safe you know we were definitely further away from relegation we couldn't really catch anyone above us so the last three or four games I got to play um and then did well and then from from that pre-season the next year kind of kicked on I want to take you back to your full debut it was against Celtic and it was a team that included Virgil van Dijk, Scott Brown and Team Uppukki. What are your memories of that day in December 2013? Um good obviously from making my debut um got anytime especially in a Vanessa home game when tonsillica rangers come to town it's it's massive you know because it feels like the city doubles in population for the day um and obviously it's always a packed out stadium um so yeah that was a another day where I thought I was you know somehow on the bench that incredible incredible experience just to be on the bench and then yeah I think we're one nil down and when he put me on with 10 minutes to go and again I can barely remember anything it was just pure adrenaline um and then I actually got a chance I ended up being offside at the back post but I headed a chance over the bar and then I thought oh my god I've marked up my debut kind of thing but um yeah it was it was some experience and then obviously quite strange and fitting to make my debut against Celtic and then end up playing for themselves that was that was good absolutely now not long after weed one promotion to the Premier League here in Vanessa won the Scottish Cup beating Folkirk in the final in Vanessa beat Celtic 3-2 after extra time in the semi-final and that was one of the biggest upsets in Scottish football history for you it must have been such a memorable game and for your family as well yeah it was um certainly one of the um favorite games I've ever played my career um a bit of a mental game obviously Celtic Virgil van Dijk whipped a free kick in like absolutely top corner I remember standing the wall and the moment he hit it I thought well that's in um and then second half or end of the first half there was a bit of a controversial controversial decision where there was like a one of our defenders kind of handballed it off the line but it wasn't given as apparently and then um came out second half um there go keeper got red card it kind of flipped the game on its head and then we we dominated it and then obviously at the time like I said we played total football and even when I moved to Celtic a lot of the boys said like views were one of the best teams to um that played against us in terms of the football we played um which was obviously a nice compliment after I went to Celtic but yeah the way we wanted to play when when they went to 10 minutes it was just down to the ground and went all the way to extra time and then I managed to get a winner and yeah it was um incredible it kept a brilliant season for you and it all started with the first appearance for Scotland under 21s that must have been a really proud moment for you as well yeah yeah that was um yeah another kind of amazing um achievement which at that point I didn't even remotely think of kind of similar to my full debut for for Scotland as well in terms of I was just enjoying club football so much and you know getting to start playing in the first team even just training with the first team that um you know even when these things were coming around in an international break I didn't even think that oh I should check the squad to see if it meant it was like somebody just came up and oh by the way you've been picked and it was like another you know a step that I didn't think I'd be able to to take so um yeah it was nice it was a great bunch of boys and a lot of those boys have actually moved on and I'm playing with the first team now which is good I think has actually helped us um in the the kind of men's 18 for Scotland now because of a lot of us that have been around each other for so long um so yeah it was it was really enjoyable when Ryan when you signed here a couple of months back you were quoted as saying that Bournemouth had been interested in signing you when you were a young player what what can you sort of tell us about that how did that all come about yeah so um when I was literally just starting to play for Inverness first team um I mean I was I was very young so I didn't really get too much of the details I think my dad being one and everyone was trying to kind of keep me away from it um but I think Bournemouth put a bid into Inverness um I was invited down um it was it was Eddie Howe at the time I was invited down to see the training ground and um but I think that this decision was made that I you know I'd only just broken into Inverness first team and I just didn't really think I'd you know played in a first team football basically um so I wanted to kind of make my mark in Inverness especially being an Inverness boy growing up and and only just managing to break into that first team and I wanted to kind of stay there and have a good run in the first team um but yeah I think that season was at the start of the championship season it was Bournemouth were were definitely not expected to go up that's for sure um so then obviously a year later when when you did go up I started thinking oh my god have I made the worst decision of my life here but uh eight years later here we are so can't complain. What's interesting though um you know obviously this is an internal sort of podcast we're doing but it says something for our recruitment that they've spotted you all those years ago and like you said eight years now here you are but you could have been here eight years ago. I know I know and um you know I've had a couple obviously Richard Hughes has mentioned in terms of the first time he came to see me play which was years ago um Matt Welles the assistant said he saw me play Inverness against St. Mirren ages ago he he was scouting somebody that was on loan from Tottenham or something at his time at Tottenham so it's funny actually how many people here have seen me play all those years ago which is quite cool and um yeah when I signed obviously Richard Hughes was kind of saying that you know seven years later eight years later but we finally got there which is it's nice it feels like almost it was kind of meant to be which is cool. Now you eventually joined Celtic in the September 2015 you're immediately loaned back to Inverness playing in the Europa League for your hometown club that must have been another huge moment for you. Yeah um yeah listen the obviously the the move to Celtic was kind of blew everything else out of the water it was it was massive and um you know probably if anything woke me up to and to the kind of real life kind of finally moving out of my mom and dad's house and moving down to Glasgow which a little boy from Inverness that's basically the big smoke and um yeah it was scary but obviously yeah the Inverness playing in Europe was was amazing and obviously people said it at the time when we were doing it was one of those things where you won't really realize this achievement until years down the line and it is times like now where I look back and think you know it's a mental club the size of Inverness was playing in Europe and I got to be part of that it was nice. Now injury saw your record from that loan spell you eventually made your Celtic debut and you scored your first goal for them in a 7-0 win against Motherwell and then you then you played in the Champions League at the following start the following season and then you got a loan to Aberdeen which ended up you stayed there for about 18 months just what was behind all of that and why weren't you playing for Celtic if you like? Yeah so when I when I joined obviously I so I joined with the um my injury managed to get fit about February time um that was under Ronnie Dila and even though Celtic were winning um the Lager was top of the league at that point team were going through a wee bit of a sticky spell and he basically he was good to put me to be fair he pulled me in and said listen I do want to play you'll get minutes here and there but at this point I you know we're under a bit of pressure I want to stick with the team or the guys that I know and can trust which I can understand is young boy coming in not really you know prove myself at the level that Celtic played at yet um you know so you know it was okay but um after that summer Brendan Rodgers came in and it was the same kind of limited minutes and stuff and you know anyone anyone that plays football tell you in terms of the longer that kind of length of period of time without playing regularly goes on just the more frustrating it gets and um by that January the time the January window um opened the following year I thought this is time for me to to go and get some game time so but again Brendan Rodgers was amazing with me he kind of said um listen I like you as a player I'm not telling you I want you to leave but I'm also saying you're not going to play every week you're going to get sporadic minutes here and there so um if you find a club that that that fits and is right um you know go for it and then it was literally I came out of the office and five hours later funny a fast word spreads that directly kind of say everybody manager called me and I thought yeah that out of everybody else that's probably the perfect team in Scotland for me to go to um and absolutely love my time at Aberdeen so it was good now your Celtic career really started to take off in the 2018 19 season you helped them win backs back trebles which was obviously the the Scottish Premiership the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup they must have been some really great times for you yeah absolutely I mean my my dream or my goal as soon as I moved to Celtic was to be you know an important player for the club um obviously I was a Celtic fan growing up as well not as much an Inverness fan but you know in Scotland you have to pick Celtic Rangers it's like at birth you're labeled one of them so um yeah I was a Celtic man growing up so you know I was just desperate to feel like I'd um you know not given something back to you know but just had my mark in the club's history um obviously when I came back to to Celtic from the Lonespell at Aberdeen it was still tough because I didn't really go into the team straight away I had a year left in my contract and I thought that with a week to go in that window um you know I thought it was kind of time for me to move on basically um and I remembered that deadline day driving into the Lenox town Celtics training ground on the phone to my agent and he basically said right um if if um if you've got the go ahead from the manager to leave um I'll be waiting outside get yourself off the training ground as soon as you can and we'll be on a car I think it was either to it was either going back to Aberdeen on permanent I think Hibbs were interested and Sunderland were interested in in league one so my head was kind of all over the place I was sitting at breakfast and then um the assistant manager said all the manager wants a word with you and I thought well this is it he's going to wish me all the best I've been accepted and he basically flipped on his head and said no you're you're staying put you're not going anywhere so um here was a mental kind of 24 hours um but then from then I just thought you know he wants me here I've got a year left my contract just kind of give it everything and I had to wait a couple months um for my opportunity but when it came around finally things just seemed to to click into place and obviously there's always a bit of luck in football there's a few injuries and I managed to get my my crack at it and managed to stay in the team ever since which was which was nice I've got to ask what is that like as a player you know it's deadline day and you've got potentially three clubs on the cards then you're already at a club what goes through your head how do you even you know get through the day yeah it's it's mental um it's hard to kind of because in football you've got um such a short amount of time to make these such big decisions whereas you know maybe in other walks of life you can mull over it for a week or two um and pick the best choice whereas in football it normally comes down to like you've got an hour to decide if you want this to happen or not which is all a bit mental but lucky enough that day the decision kind of got taken out of my hands a little bit which was nice um and the moment I kind of stepped out of the manager's office I kind of thought right that that's me and at least I know my future now um and all I can do now is try and break into this this Celtic team which was um easing um which was good for me I think moving moving forward your dad he spent two years at Celtic but he didn't make a first team appearance was there ever an element for you of sort of doing it for him as well yeah I mean obviously there was a lot made about how similar up to our our careers were up to that point in terms of like playing for Inverness moving to Celtic and then the first year you know not really breaking in um and obviously my dad plays a massive role and I'm on the phone to him every other day about football and you know he was as frustrated as me is not playing at Celtic and you know he was just desperate for me to play and after the Aberdeen loan especially where I got so much joy you know he he was the same he thought listen there might be time to to move on on this but I think he was equally as delighted when I got the news that would to stay and then obviously when everything when I eventually started playing I think he he was chuffed because he's definitely bigger a bigger um Celtic Celtic Celtic man than me or to be very he was the one that that made me a Celtic man in my um in my childhood but yeah I think it meant a lot for him for me to to finally play for the club ten titles in a row and immortality in Scottish football leading Celtic last season obviously Rangers winning the title that year after all the highs what was it like playing for Celtic you know when it wasn't all going to plan yeah it was tough it was um it's something that obviously we weren't used to it on the fans weren't used to I mean we ever since Brenda Rogers came in um you know we I mean obviously the first season we went unbeaten um and we just won every single competition we entered basically so as soon as that got disrupted it was like complete meltdown for you know for us and then the the supporters as well who who weren't used to it um you know it's hard because again it's it's one of those situations where years down the line you step back and realize what an incredible achievement that the club um had at that time um and a crazy kind of bar to set to keep doing it year in year out because it you know it got to the point in that third and fourth I mean the treble treble the quadruple treble that it was like the start of the season it was like right if we don't win the treble treble it's a bad season which is like what other club has that mentality it's mental um so yeah it was obviously a huge shock to everybody when it when it didn't go our way and um obviously a lot said about the kind of intensity of the old firm um it is mental everyone lives and breathes football up there which is a good thing it's it's it's amazing it makes people's lives up in Glasgow especially and all around Scotland but at the same time you know when you're playing for one of these teams and it's not going your way it's it's tough because you've really struggled to kind of switch off from it basically um you know and then you start feeling like you know you've let people down and you don't want to be seen in public because you know if you've been beat that day and you all go and have a nice dinner and you think i don't deserve to be having that nice dinner and you know it plays with your head it's it's mentally draining and I think that happened for a lot of us um that season um which was tough but like I said again you look back at it now me personally I think you know it's made me tougher as a as a person as a footballer it's it's I've learned lessons from it which now I you know I'll I'll use moving on in my football career that'll help me which is which is nice that even after all that kind of hardship you still feel like you've come out of it with a positive for you coming from the Highlands what was it like moving to a big city like Glasgow I think you said earlier that you lived in Glasgow when you were playing for playing for Celtic it it seems like it must have been a big jump and the term goldfish bowl springs to mind there yes absolutely um yeah obviously when I first moved down um that was like you know first time um out with my mum and dads and you know you've got to cook for yourself you've got to wash for yourself so it was like a reality check really quickly into life um but it was good it seemed to handle okay um obviously because of that goldfish bowl you're in all the players at Celtic are really tight you know if you if you do anything social you normally do it with those you know your teammates because they're in the same kind of category as you and um yeah it was good it was when it's going well it's incredible because you know nobody could say anything bad to you or you know everybody just looks up to you like you know you're um you know some sort of um gods almost but um on the flip side of that obviously when things aren't going so well like I said it's it's difficult but again incredible incredible experience so many people you know are desperate to play for self-ticking people in football and out of football so to say I got that opportunity I'm forever grateful for. Bournemouth fans will probably want to know if you ever cross paths with Marvin Bartley who you may not may know started his career here did you ever play against him? I did a couple of times um and he was always he actually was really nice on the pitch in terms of um like when he spoke to you he'd be like oh you're right Ryan how you doing this stuff and then I'd get the ball and he'd lamp me six feet in the air and he'd pick me up go oh you're right mate I think you just like I want to feel angry at you but you're so nice it's like I can't um so yeah yeah he was he was a good guy played against him for Hibbs and um Livingston as well so he's kind of moved into the the media side of the game now thinking he's doing well which is nice to see. And what was Scott Brown like to play with? Amazing amazing I mean he has this reputation you know everybody that's probably one of the first questions people ask you especially kind of Celtic supporters like what's what's Bernie liking in in real life kind of thing and obviously he has this kind of demeanor and um you know everybody thinks he's just this tough mean guy but um honestly again like you can't speak high everything you want from a captain in terms of when I kind of went to the club he was he was brilliant with me um his leadership the standards he sets in training are like incredibly high um but you know he he sets that standard himself by by his drive and every single morning you kind of if you're lacking motivation or something um you know you just look at him and look at the way he trains especially in his last few years at the age he was with Celtic can you think like it's incredible for for what he's done for so long in his career to to keep having that drive and keep having that mentality um so yeah I think it's only once I got to play with him you then realize like how he has been so successful as a professional footballer um because yeah it's this drive in the mindset is is different level. Not too many links between Bournemouth and Celtic but Peter Grant was a coach here a few years back he was obviously a legendary player at Celtic and now his son Peter Grant scored for Falkirk in that cup final now did you ever have you ever seen anything of Peter senior I know he's more your dad's era. Well he was my assistant coach actually at Scotland at one point he um when Alex McLeish was the the manager he was the assistant so um yeah I was on a good few trips with him he was good he was a great coach um you know he frustratingly didn't really work out for for Alex McLeish and he moved on but um yeah it was it was nice obviously he I can't even remember I think it was after his son scoring that goal and he would always kind of remind me of it and and joking that I stole all his his um his son's kind of spotlight um but yeah um he was great he was a great coach and anytime I got to work with him. Going back to your dad again now when we when I spoke to him earlier this week he was fairly outspoken about some of the criticism that you received from some Celtic fans for leaving he said it was unwarranted and nonsensical now I know that you have been understandably a lot more reserved did it hurt you after such a successful period at the club um no not not overly um if I'm honest I mean after that kind of um 10 in a row season that didn't happen after that you know that initially gave me you know a bit of a you know a stronger backbone um and I obviously realized from that season not to read into much of the press because you know it wasn't it wasn't too positive around Celtic at that time so you know I learned a lot from then and I knew I knew in my kind of mind that it was exactly what I wanted it was just the perfect move for me so it there was no kind of sense of doubt or you know second guessing at all I just thought this is everything I've wanted to achieve at Celtic I've done um like I said I was so grateful for the opportunity to play for them um you know I was lucky enough to to score and cut finals win trebles um and when you know I looked at my Celtic resume I thought you know I've wanted to do I've done everything I want to do at Celtic and the thing I want to do my football career was was give it a shot down here um you know give England a shot because you know so many of my peers at the Scottish level played down here loved it raved about it um and I've played in well played in Scotland for my whole career up to that point so um you know when when the boom I think came came knocking I just thought it was an absolute no-brainer to to finally give it a crack just tell us about your first senior cap against Holland in 2017 yeah and again another incredible experience and and memory um I was at Aberdeen at the time um and I remember again like kind of like the 21s it wasn't even remotely in my head that I could get selected for the national team at that point I was just really enjoying club football and and kind of that's all I was focused on and and then Derek McInnes pulled me aside and the squads normally come out on a Tuesday afternoon he pulled me aside on the Monday morning before training and said oh you're going to get called up for the we've been told you're going to get called up for the Scotland squad and my mum and dad were visiting at the time um so that night I obviously got to break the news to them which is like amazing um incredible I'm getting a lump in my throat thinking about it but um yeah it was obviously an amazing experience it helped I think that I was at Aberdeen at the time the game was at Potoddry in Aberdeen little things like that you know help kind of ease you into a little bit more again like I said a lot of the boys that I played at 21s with were in that um in that Scotland call-up so you know it was a lot of familiar faces around the place um and yeah obviously I didn't get to win but you know nice to nice to play your debut against a team like like the Dutch you know they were incredible and some incredible players on the pitch that night and it was the first time I got to test myself in front of kind of um you know world-class opposition um you know which role was kind of wanting to do in football when your move to Bournemouth came about I think you'd either been on international duty or you you were going have you had dialogue with Steve Clark about the impact that coming here may have on your international aspirations um no I mean obviously I knew something might be in the in the in the the pipe work in terms of you know a move coming through and it was again it's like the third deadline day I've been involved in and everybody outside of our football fans will think oh that must be amazing so exciting it's the opposite it's just like pure stress the whole time just staring at your phone waiting for a phone call um and I was obviously back and forth with a lot of people on the phone um that day this is the Monday I think the deadline day was Tuesday um I knew that Celtic and Bournemouth were in talks um I then spent my whole afternoon in my room just staring at my phone uh expecting a phone call thinking like we're running out of time here this this needs to start happening um nothing nothing at all went into a team meeting put my phone on airplane mode came out the team meeting took off airplane mode and my phone just like exploded my hand like my agent saying call me now other people you need to call Liam so I was like oh my god it's happening like you know panic stations I was supposed to have dinner but my appetite had disappeared um I managed to call him and he said listen yep an agreement's been made I think this is this is good to go if you want it to happen um and then again Steve Clarke like he said was was amazing in that aspect because obviously been up in Edinburgh I thought I might you know at this stage trying to get a medical done down here would be tough um and he kind of said listen you know you can do the medical up here in Edinburgh anyway we can facilitate this um you know let me know and we'll try to do it which was amazing um and it ended up being relatively um you know stress free come that from the Tuesday and then he was just you know he was delighted for me and pulled me aside after I said listen I think it's been you know a great move um you know you've had a great time at Celtic and then now it's time for a new challenge and um you know he he was um just really excited for me I think and wished me all the best which was nice am I right in thinking that when you signed for the club on deadline day you were traveling to an away game with Scotland yes thankfully I managed to so the plane was leaving it we had Denmark away and plane was leaving at three um and we trained that morning and after that I managed to my agent managed to to get around with all the the paperwork um get it signed and then he flew down to to complete it um but there was a couple of things I was getting sent through my phone sat on the plane waiting for takeoff that I needed to fill out and I'm thinking if this plane takes off and I go out of internet here I'm just going to and then everybody's asking me as well saying like is it done is it done I'm saying yeah it's done but it hadn't been announced yet so then I'm second guessing myself like is this done like I'm calling my agent again like are you sure that he's like yep 100% done obviously like it adds a bit of suspense or you know like getting deadline day over the line and announcing it maybe 6 p.m. 7 p.m. you know just adds that bit of excitement but you know as soon as I saw I think it was like the instagram post from from Bournemouth saying I'd signed I thought okay I finally believe it now obviously in venez they play in red and black is it true the colors were a major reason behind the decision to uh to join AFC Bournemouth um my dad will say that um yeah um I don't know if you guys know the history of in venez cali thistle but there was like in venez thistle and in venez cali and the two teams merged together in 1994 I think if I get that wrong with that'll kill me but he was a thistle man who played in red and black so he'll be absolutely over the moon to be seeing me playing in red and black every second week right now now we've touched on Scotland what what's it like to be the only Scotsman in the first team squad here at AFC Bournemouth is it where is it nice obviously your whole career beforehand had been in Scotland um I don't know if I like or hate it to be honest but um yeah obviously the first thing well you know you do when you sign for a new club union you're looking through all the players thinking do I know anyone is there any familiar faces um and to be there for me there wasn't really I mean the one link was was Ryan Fraser who obviously was a Scotland camp with at the time um who obviously knew everybody here so um but apart from that I didn't really cross pass with anybody in the changing room up to then which obviously made it a little bit more kind of scary um but you know the boys have been absolutely superb obviously the kind of Scotland England thing it's you know if I was moving to France somewhere like that and having to learn a language it would probably be I'd probably be desperate for another Scotsman in the changing room beside me but um yeah it's not been too bad talking of that Scotland England rivalry the year is final were you waiting for England I need to be honest here and say that I had the Italian face paint on my cheeks no I didn't go that far but there was a there was a few I was away with preseason itself took at the time um and yeah there was a few of us in the room and we were all jumping up and down when apparently we saved sorry guys that sounds bad but it's just the Scottish nature in me now tell us a little bit about how you've you've settled here off the pitch you certainly must be finding it a lot warmer than Scotland absolutely that's the first thing everybody said to me that I would notice the difference in weather and I kind of thought yeah it can't be that much of a difference and then my first week down here was like I was training the Maldives or something like that it was incredible and then actually the last international camp going back up to Edinburgh I noticed the difference as soon as I came off the plane um so yeah listen that's um certainly been nice that's for sure um I've seen a couple of the boys this week start to put the hat and gloves on and I think wha you have no idea like the hat and gloves don't come out until it's minus five up in Scotland so um yeah that's that's certainly been nice but I've been loving it I've loved the area so far um like I said before I finally kind of feel a lot more settled I know a lot more of the area now the boys have been brilliant in terms of point me in the right direction um and yeah it's it's been good I've had the family down now a couple of times um they've loved it too first time I've ever lived by a beach so everybody's loving that aspect um so yeah everybody told me obviously before I'd love it loving down here but yeah I really am what about that dressing room banter because you're a scotsman have you been on the end of any of that so far um been relatively okay so far so far a couple of here and there um a couple of comments about being tight stuff like that it's not gone down too well but um yeah maybe that's where I'm needing another scotsman to um to hold up my side of the argument there but with six assists in nine games your team mates are probably delighted with the way that you've uh contributed to the team how do you feel you've done how do you feel you've settled in on the pitch again yeah I really enjoyed it um obviously I've um I'm desperate to score that first goal I'm hoping it's coming sooner rather than later but um you know like I've been saying in the in the press and stuff I think as an attacking player you just want to chip in with you know goals and assists or create chances for your teammates and you know so I've been happy enough that I've managed to do that so far and to be fair all the boys have been absolutely flying I mean I couldn't have asked to to join a better team in terms of form and and how everyone's playing right now it's been brilliant and obviously the way the gaffer wants wants to play football was a big um aspect for me and joining the club in the first place um you know obviously I spoke with him a couple times on the phone and everything he said um you know it was kind of music to my ears and I thought it would suit a player like me down to the ground so obviously in that aspect I've really enjoyed playing under him and the style of football we've played and and so far it's paying off and as you can see in the results so um you know everybody's just desperate to keep this kind of this run going and and that and everybody knows that comes with with hard work down there not too many familiar faces in the Bournemouth changing room when you came down here but you're bumping into a few international colleagues here and there I saw you chatting to Lyndon Dykes after the QPR game so and what do you make of the championship as a level? Very good very good obviously when I was away with Scotland when the whole kind of transfer happened it was I was asking these guys around me you know um you know what's it like and they were obviously all very um positive and they they you know they were saying oh listen you know Bournemouth good side they'll be right up there this season um you know again which is which is nice to hear when you're when you're hoping to sign for a team like that but um yeah it's nice it's nice playing against all these guys and you know the difference I've noticed is everybody um thinks of the championship I think it's like a a physical league um and it is definitely in terms of athleticism you know you get some powerful runners and and really quick strong guys but but a lot of the teams um you know want to to play football get the ball in the ground which which suits me I think that's helped me obviously that's the way we want to play but there's been other teams you know that have been pressed with that we've played against where I think you know even if we've dominated games anytime the opposition on the ball you need to be really um kind of switched on defensively because you know that any team in this league can hurt you. Now it's been a brilliant podcast where you really enjoyed hearing all your stories but we always end these with a few questions from supporters so I'm going to far a few your way just to round off here the first one comes from Josh Starks and you mentioned about scoring goals and assists earlier he wants to know what gives you more of a drive is it the scoring goals or is it assisting other players? Um good question yeah I'm I'm gonna you always love to score a goal it's probably the biggest buzz in football um but if you can't do that then you're just obviously desperate to help help in any way you can um you know like I said before now I'm itching for that first goal and when it comes I'm hoping you know three four and five get added to that you know you're always going to set your goals at the start of the season of how many you want to get so um you know hopefully I can I can take those boxes by the end of the season. Next question comes from Rich Neil he wants to know you've obviously well you've talked about the different styles of playing the the championship in the Scottish Premiership but which one do you prefer? Um so far I would I would say the championship um you know what I'm also enjoying about the championship is um is all these kind of new grounds obviously I thought um a couple weeks ago playing Stoke that was an amazing stadium um Bristol City that was a really cool stadium to play at um you know obviously we've got some great stadiums up in Scotland as well but you know after eight years of playing in the same league you're you're just about used to them every other week so yeah I'm really enjoying that aspect kind of new stadiums new places to play new opposition to play against so yeah it's all a big kind of a new challenge for me which is cool. One from Sam do you have a favorite tattoo that you're happy to talk about? When you asked earlier if I've been getting ripped for anything in the changing room it's been my tattoos some of the vests like Marmite some of them love it some of them hate them but um yeah I've got some very very strange tattoos um that I actually wish I had explanations for but I don't really um I have a set of bananas on my left thigh they're probably they're my favorite uh all the boys have been chipping in and tell me which ones that they're favorite are um Jay-Z he said his favorite was I've got a Lego man on my arm um he likes that one I'm actually booked in soon for another couple so if you've got any suggestions let me know Can I just ask what's behind the bananas on the thigh is there a reason or? That's what I mean like I wish I had a reason for you but I don't um I got my first tattoo when I was 19 I think and I got maybe two or three at that point and at that point they kind of meant something to me you know or had that kind of aspect to it um and then my want for tattoos outgrew the you know the reasons for getting them so um yeah the longer it's gone on the the matter they've become um but yeah so like I said some of the boys have actually ended up quite liking them so they're going down well Dave Watkins is asking about the amazing back heel pass that you did against Huddersfield on Saturday how many times have you practiced that and how many times have you messed it up I can't say it's something I've practiced that much um as soon as Gazz kind of played the ball to me I saw Jeff making the run inside so I knew he was there but with my whole kind of body position I thought the only way to get this ball to him is to try something like that um and those kind of things are normally high-risk are reward because if they don't work you're normally ending up on some sort of meme or something falling over the ball so um thankfully that that one worked um hopefully there's there's more stuff like that to come Tony Bernard is asking which do you prefer out of these two meals battered Mars bar and chips washed down with iron brew or fishing chips with a cup of tea that's probably the first one um I've not had that many battered Mars bars but they actually are really good I don't know if you guys have ever had one though you even heard of that I've heard of it maybe it's another tattoo maybe a battered Mars bar maybe I'll write that one down to the list um but yeah and then a good old iron brew can't beat it now the final supporter's question we've saved the best one till last this is the one that everybody wants to know this has come from Louise Clark from our proud cherries group few people have asked about this actually does the Loch Ness monster exist and have you seen it I have not seen it but as a in Venetian I have to say yes of course it exists um when I was in primary school we actually did a a big huge um kind of uh what would you call that um exhibition on it it was almost obviously that's um there's loads of tourism in Inverness um a lot of Americans come over and and love to to go and stand in the rain with a pair of binoculars um if you ask me there's plenty better things to do but um yes I my dad is just as um um what's the word my dad is just as uh absolute on this that I am convinced it's still down there um not too sure if it'll poke its head up anytime soon but if it does I'll let you know another tattoo yeah yeah maybe right well I think we're gonna round this one off Ryan it's been an absolute pleasure having you here with us we really enjoyed your company and your stories and we're looking forward to seeing you back out on that pitch at Vitality Stadium this weekend and and for the season ahead now then if you've enjoyed listening to our podcast we would absolutely love it if you could like and subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on we'd also be very grateful for any shares on social media so that fans be at AFC Bournemouth related or the general football fan can enjoy it too. Our thanks again to Ryan Christie and from Neil Parrott and myself Zoe Rundle thank you for tuning in to the official AFC Bournemouth podcast