Charlie Christie
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Charlie Christie (born 30 March 1966 in Inverness) is a former professional footballer and is currently manager of Scottish Premier League club Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
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[edit] Early career
Christie began his career playing in the Highland League for Caledonian F.C. in 1983, before moving to Inverness Thistle in 1985. In September 1987 he earned a move to Celtic. During his time at Celtic, Christie made 56 appearances for the reserve team, scoring 25 goals. He was unfortunately unable to break into the Celtic first team, partly due to the good performances of Frank McAvennie, who played in the same position.
Christie returned to Inverness in 1989, signing once again for Caledonian, in the combined role of player and commercial manager.
[edit] Playing for Inverness Caledonian Thistle
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, thus becoming one of the few players to play for Thistle, Caley and ICT. Initially he played as a striker, before eventually moving back to a midfield role.
Although he missed the start of the 1994/95 season through injury, Christie went on to become the most influential, consistent and respected player at the club. 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 defeat of Celtic on 8 February 2000, his performance in this game earning him the sponsor's Man of the Match award.
During later seasons, Christie combined his playing career with a role as a club coach. He retired from playing in May 2004, having made a total of 314 appearances and scoring 34 goals.
[edit] Coaching and Management Career
After retiring as a player, Christie continued in his role as a youth development coach at Caley Thistle. In November 2004, when then-manager John Robertson left Caley Thistle to become manager of Hearts, Christie assisted the club's Director of football Graeme Bennett 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 Lossiemouth of £35, 000 for striker Ian Stewart.
[edit] Honours
- Scottish Third Division winner's medal, 1996/97
- Bell's Challenge Cup winner's medal, 2003/04
- Scottish First Division winner's medal, 2003/04
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. - Current Squad |
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2 Tokely | 4 Dods | 5 McCaffrey | 6 McBain | 7 Wilson | 8 Black | 9 Bayne | 10 Hart | 11 Morgan | 12 Duncan | 14 Munro | 16 Hastings | 17 Dargo | 18 McSwegan | 19 Wyness | 20 Paatelainen | 21 Fraser | 23 Ridgers | 24 Rankin | 25 Soane | 26 Sutherland | 28 McAllister | Manager: Christie |
