THEY were his darkest days at Celtic.
But Hoops ace Ryan Christie is glad he didn’t get to see the Stadium of Light at the end of the tunnel.
Being in the shadows as a fringe player at Parkhead wasn’t easy.
So when Christie heard that Jack Ross wanted to take him to Sunderland, he started finding out what he was like as a boss.
All he heard were good things.
But as he prepared to face Ross’ Hibs, the Scotland star admitted he’s more than happy with how things turned out.
Christie said: “I’m a big fan of Jack Ross.
“He did unbelievably well at St Mirren and was a bit unfortunate down at Sunderland.
“But he’s come in and steadied the Hibs ship a little bit and will get them progressing again.
“That’s something you expect from Hibs because they are such a big team in Scottish football.
“They’ll definitely come here and play with an intent to take points off us, so we need to be wary, as they are a good side.
“I just like the way Ross teams play football — Lewis Morgan also speaks highly of him.
“For a young manager, the way he takes his teams is good to see. I’ve spoken to a few boys who have played under him and they all rave about his training and the way he wants to play.
“Right at the start of last season there was talk of me joining him at Sunderland. I could have gone down a different route.
“I knew Morgy from here and he was raving about him from his time at St Mirren.
“It was certainly an option I looked at but it never got to the point where I had a conversation with him.
“It’s strange when I look back and think of how different it could have all gone.
“There was talk of me joining Aberdeen on a permanent deal, and if John McGinn had gone to Celtic there was talk of me going the other way to Hibs. And there was the Sunderland talk as well.
“It went right down to deadline day when I was told to stay here and fight for my place. It’s strange how it all works out, but I’m pretty delighted with how it panned out.
“That deadline day was pretty up and down. I came into training not knowing what would happen.
“The English window closed earlier than ours, so I was told if it was Sunderland I’d have to leave training and jump in a car.
“It was pretty mad and that day Brendan Rodgers sat me down and spoke to me because Moussa Dembele was leaving.
“He just said I’d be needed here and that all other interest was off.”
Christie had no option but to buckle down and give himself every chance of forcing his way into the Celtic team. But it was tough.
He added: “Towards the start of the season, with a few weeks left in the window, I was sitting in the stands after coming back from the 18-month loan spell at Aberdeen, where I’d played regularly.
“It was hard to adjust back to not even making the match-day squad.
“I felt frustrated and at that point I was thinking it was maybe time for a fresh start somewhere else.
“But the manager telling me I still had a fighting chance to prove myself was all I needed to know, because I was still desperate to show my worth to Celtic.”
Christie was on the fringes at Celtic when Scott Allan was also unable to get into the top team plans.
Now Allan’s flying at Hibs, and Christie couldn’t be happier for his mate.
He added: “Scotty was very unfortunate. He was in a similar boat to me, trying to make our way at the club in the first Treble season when the team was doing incredibly well. It was very difficult to get into that side.
“I trained with Scotty often enough to see how good a player he is and it is nice to see him showing that now at Hibs.
“It definitely helps when you’re going through the same kind of conditions. You know how frustrating it is for one another.
“He went out on loan as well and that definitely helped him. I was keeping in touch with him when I was at Aberdeen, and I was telling him how much I was enjoying getting my football back again, and it’s worked out best for him, too.
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“He’s getting that run of games and run of form and has got some of the best assists I’ve seen this season.
“He’s one of many Hibs players we’ll have to watch out for.”
ON SONG Christie admits Tierney’s departure has left huge hole – in the music stakes
Christie didn’t travel to Romania for Celtic’s Europa League tie with Cluj, with Neil Lennon resting him ahead of tomorrow’s league clash.
He added: “We are back to domestic football after Thursday and even after the success of last weekend we are desperate to push on and make sure we do really well in December to put us in a good position going into the break. That starts on Sunday.”
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