Charlie Christie (born 30 March 1966) is a Scottish professional football player and coach who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

and latterly as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He played for Inverness Caledonian Thistle throughout the club's first ten years of existence (1994–2004), making over 250 appearances, and later managed the club from January 2006 until August 2007. He also played in the Scottish Highland Football League for Caledonian and

Inverness Thistle Inverness Thistle Football Club was a football club playing in the city of Inverness in northern Scotland. Formation and timeline They were members of the Highland Football League, winning the championship eight times, including its inaugur ...

before those clubs merged to become Caledonian Thistle, and was a reserve player at Celtic. Charlie is the father of

Ryan Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

, who also played for Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and is currently playing for

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

Playing career

Born in Inverness in 1966, Christie began his professional football career in 1983, playing for Caledonian in the Scottish Highland Football League. In 1985 he was transferred to local rivals

. In September 1987 he signed for Celtic, where he made 56 appearances and scored 25 goals for the reserve team. He was unable to break into the Celtic first team, partly due to the performances of Frank McAvennie, who played in the same

position. Christie rejoined Caledonian in 1989, in the combined role of player and commercial manager. In 1994, when Inverness Thistle and Caledonian merged to form Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Christie joined the new club, where he combined his playing role with running the Centenary Club lottery. Initially he played as a striker, before eventually moving back to a midfield role. He was the only player to play for Caley Thistle during all of the club's first ten seasons and played in many of the club's most memorable games during this period, including the 3-1

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,John Robertson left Caley Thistle to become manager of Hearts, Christie assisted the club's Director of football

Graeme Bennett Graeme Bennett (born 7 May 1965) is a Scottish former football midfielder. Now retired, he held the position of Director of football at Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. As a player the combative Bennett made his Scottish Football League debut ...

in managing the team until a replacement could be found. When Craig Brewster joined as player-manager Christie was made first team coach and continued in this role until January 2006. When Brewster left the club on 13 January 2006, Christie was appointed caretaker manager. On 27 January 2006 he was given the manager's job on a permanent basis, with Donald Park as his assistant. Christie made Ross County midfielder John Rankin his first signing as Caley Thistle manager with a fee of £65,000 paid to their Highland neighbours. The deal also smashed Caley Thistle's previous record transfer fee paid to Highland League Club, Lossiemouth FC. of £35,000 for striker Ian Stewart. Christie remained in the job for nearly nineteen months before his resignation in August 2007.

Honours

Manager * Scottish Third Division: 1996-97 * Scottish Challenge Cup: 2003-04 *

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as ...

: 2003-04

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christie, Charlie 1966 births Footballers from Inverness Living people Celtic F.C. players Inverness Thistle F.C. players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. managers Scottish footballers Scottish football managers Scottish Football League players Association football midfielders Scottish Premier League managers Caledonian F.C. players Highland Football League players