Former Inverness Caledonian Thistle star Ryan Christie says silencing the doubters was never important to him as Bournemouth won promotion to the English Premier League.
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
RYAN Christie says silencing the doubters over his move to Bournemouth was never important to him after helping his club win promotion to the English Premier League.
The former Inverness Caledonian Thistle midfielder, who graduated from the club's youth academy, will be playing in the English Premier League next season after helping the Cherries to second place in the English Championship and winning promotion.
Christie received criticism from some quarters after leaving Celtic and opting to move to an English Championship outfit, with reported offers from clubs playing in the top leagues in different countries.
But Christie (27) says the doubters never crossed his mind after Bournemouth won promotion.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland show Sportsound on Saturday, he said: "When I moved down, my goal was try and get promoted with Bournemouth and I was over the moon to get that.
"Plenty of people have said you must be happy to quiet people down, but I don't see it like that.
"My dream is to play in the Premier League and people said how tough the Championship was going to be.
"At the end of the season I knew how a big achievement it would be we are over the line and now I am excited for next season."
Christie made his debut for Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2013 and played in the first team for two seasons before signing for Celtic in 2015.
He spent loan periods back at Inverness and at Aberdeen before becoming a regular first team player at Celtic.
He then moved to Bournemouth last season for a transfer fee worth a reported £1.5 million.
He admitted the Championship was a hard slog, but is looking forward to realising his dream of playing in the English Premier League.
"It has been a new experience and I loved every minute of it," said Christie.
"The English Championship is relentless and non stop with no time to come up for air.
"When it got to the end and we got over the line, we realised how much work we put in over the whole season to gain that goal.
"There was a sense of relief, my goal was to play in the Premier League and hopefully i'll be doing that next season."
Christie is in the Scotland squad to face Ukraine in the World Cup play-off semi final at Hampden on Wednesday night.
