FORMER Celtic striker Charlie has hit back at his one-time team-mate Davie Provan following his stinging criticism of his son Ryan’s move to Championship outfit Bournemouth.
The ex-Hoops winger questioned the Scotland international midfielder’s ambition for swapping Parkhead for “village green” football at the English second-tier club, as CQN reported last week.
Christie quit Ange Postecoglou’s side with his contract due to expire at the turn of the year as the south coast club paid a cut-price fee of around the £1million mark for the 26-year-old player who arrived from Inverness Caley Thistle in a £500,000 deal in the summer of 2015.
The move was money motivated insisted the top media pundit and that clearly irked Christie snr.
Provan, speaking to Go Radio, said: “I got a message after the comments I made on the programme last week where I said it demonstrated a lack of ambition from Ryan Christie.
“His dad Charlie, who I played with at Celtic and was a team-mate of mine, messaged me this week and was very unhappy that I suggested Ryan’s ambition was in question.
“Basically, he was just trying to point out that he sees Bournemouth as a stepping stone and a chance to kick on.
“Obviously he sees himself in the English Premier League at some stage.
“I just think he could have got a better club and, to put it simply, I think he’s a better player than Bournemouth. I think he can get a much better club than Bournemouth.”
Christie’s last game for the Hoops was at a sold-out Ibrox and he played for his nation in the 1-0 World Cup qualifying win over Austria in Vienna in midweek.
On Saturday, he will make his Bournemouth debut against Barnsley at the Vitality Stadium where the attendance is likely to be around the 10,000 mark.
