Charlie Christie: "Ryan deserves chance to play with the Bhoys"
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I must admit to never overly enjoying, or agreeing with, the transfer window when manager at ICT — but the window takes on a whole new meaning when it is your son involved in a last minute move!
After receiving permission from Inverness last week, Ryan, who was staying close to Glasgow with the Scotland under-21 squad, had a hectic 24 hours to get his head around a move to Celtic.
I travelled down to his hotel to give him some advice and moral support and spent some time with him on the Monday evening, going over the challenges, pitfalls and difficulties he may encounter.
I also took time to speak with several knowledgeable people in the game to garner their advice on the move. Each and every one of them — including Donald Park, John Robertson and Barry Wilson — said it was a huge opportunity for the young man to develop his game and, although a big step, one he was certainly capable of making. I could also see in Ryan’s eyes that he was keen to give the move a go and that he was very much up for the challenge.
One thing for sure is that Ryan deserves this chance and has earned it over quite a period of time. Ryan joined ICT at the age of eight and since then his conduct, attitude and effort in training and commitment to the club has been exemplary.
Ryan owes a small debt to Ross County FC as, after an SFA coaching course held in Inverness, County invited Ryan to attend their primary school coaching groups in Dingwall. Ross County were undoubtedly ahead of ICT at that time in terms of youth coaching but I decided it was time ICT started their own elite coaching at the younger ages.
Paul Sheerin, Scott Kellacher and I held trials on the stadium pitch for more than 60 kids aged eight to 10 years. Sheerin and I were still players at that time but enjoyed putting something back into the club and, after six weeks’ trials, we had selected a group of 16 kids who we coached twice weekly.
To this day, that was arguably the best initiative run at ICT at youth level and to see both Ryan and Liam Polworth emerge as talented first-team players from that group is hugely pleasing.
Ryan went on to play at every age level at the club and has had invaluable help from coaches like Kellacher, Fiona MacWilliams and Ronnie Duncan, people whose work often goes unnoticed and who often do not receive the credit they deserve.
Ryan has also had disappointments along the way and none more so than when he signed his first professional contract at ICT after two years as an apprentice. Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas were in charge at the time and Butcher offered Ryan a two-year contract. Ryan was over the moon and I was delighted for him but I was more interested in where Butcher saw Ryan in the playing structure.
Butcher advised me that Ryan would commence training with the first team the following pre-season but when Ryan returned in early July he was told that he would still be with the under-20 squad.
The young man was obviously hugely disappointed and I was frustrated as I knew this might hinder Ryan’s development and was not what had been discussed. However, I told Ryan that he needed to put this behind him and train even harder to achieve his goal of playing for the first team at the club and, to his credit, he did just that.
Within six months, Butcher and Malpas moved on to Hibernian and the club appointed John Hughes as manager. I knew John from playing against him and also liked what I heard about the man, in that he was a coach who had a similar football philosophy to mine and would play young players if he thought they could handle it in the first team. Within two weeks of arriving, Hughes had Ryan training with the first team on a regular basis and he loved it.
Ryan knows this was a pivotal time in his development and recognises the opportunity afforded to him by Hughes and what he owes the man for giving him his first team debut and, more importantly, the football knowledge he imparted to him.
Ryan is delighted Celtic have allowed him a loan back period as he wants to repay Hughes and his coaching staff for the support they have given him.
Whether Ryan will be a success at Celtic and whether he can step on to achieve even more in his football career is anybody’s guess, but anyone that has worked with him will tell you that he has certainly earned this chance. He has the correct attributes to progress but he will need to be patient and have luck on his side going forward.
For me as head of youth development at ICT, this is a huge step in that it is the first time the club has sold a product of the youth system. Ryan is a good example to the other youngsters at the club that if you have the correct attitude, work and train hard and believe in yourself you can do well at ICT.
We have several young players at various age levels that have excellent potential and if Ryan can give these players that added inspiration to go on to achieve at the club, then all the better!
To round off a memorable week, Ryan made his first start for the Scotland under-21s last Saturday as they got their qualifying campaign under way in Northern Ireland. He managed to score — with his right foot astonishingly — in the 2-1 win. It was nice to receive a text afterwards from under-21s assistant boss Park to say Ryan had performed really well.
I phoned Ryan shortly afterwards to congratulate him but more importantly to tell him that, after the week he’d had, to get himself to the nearest newsagents and buy himself a national lottery ticket!
