Ryan Christie reluctantly accepted that there was no other choice than to put his campaign to a grinding grinding, so prematurely and painfully.
The Scottish winger was forced to bow against the inevitable and to undergo the groin surgery which he hoped to postpone until the summer.
After obtaining glowing criticism as a pillar in the high -flying bournemouth team from Andoni Iraola, which should have been the premier season of his dreams rather ended.
He will certainly remember that like the most scary and most stressful fate of his career.
Given its obvious importance for a team of cherries who continued to strike over their weight in the largest league so-called in the world, Mail Sport has a question for the childhood aspect of 30 years.
Would he plan to extend his club career by following the example of his boyfriend and former Celtic teammate Callum McGregor and his retirement from international football? The answer is categorical.
Ryan Christie insists that serving Scotland provides her with her greatest thrill in football
Bournemouth midfielder had been a revelation until the injury reduces his season
Christie with Callum McGregor in Scotland Formation, but he will not leave like his ex-Copain-Celtic
“No,” said Christie. “I mean, Cal obviously did this for his personal reasons. I can perfectly understand, with the number of games he played in his career – I think he is hitting between 60 and 70 games per season for Celtic – why he came to this decision.
“Personally, my greatest thing in football is to play for Scotland, my family has always had this state of mind and his friends know it. As long as I still kick a ball, I will be available to be chosen. I am sure he will come a day when I am told that I am not good enough, but I would like to leave it in the hands of someone else rather than mine, I think.
Christie will almost certainly miss Scotland’s friendly matches against Iceland and Liechtenstein in June when he focuses on being ready for next season.
I check with him how many caps he has to date.
“I mean 57 or 58. It’s terrible that I don’t know with certainty.
I tell him that it is 59 and I wonder if there is a chance that he will reach the brand of 100 if he can play for the next five or six years.
Christie believes that Steve Clarke is always the man to direct Scotland forward despite the recent setbacks
“Wow is a question. I think I would do well to hit a hundred. It would certainly be something that I did not expect what I expected. Fifty was a massive step for me. When I was in the forties, I counted them, each. I was desperate to reach 50.
“Obviously, it is frustrating to miss the two games in summer for which I do not think I will be ready, but the great thing that helps with your ceilings is to succeed in major tournaments and playing a few games.
“We now have a team of players who accumulate traffic jams. Myself, Andy (Robertson), Craig Gordon, John McGinn, boys like that on a massive number now. These guys are now in the top five, in the first ten of all time, so it’s a huge success for them and they are far from over.
Christie believes that Steve Clarke is far from over is as a Scottish manager, and still has the full support of the players, despite the criticisms he was confronted with in the event of 3-0 crushing towards Greece in Hampden last month and the relegation of the League of Nations.
“One hundred percent”, nodd in Christie. “I think if you ask one of the boys, they would put the success that we have had in recent years. It was incredible, not only for me, personally, but for the whole team. He increased the level, raised our belief in that we can do as a team and it is paid.
“The qualification for consecutive euros was a big problem and you can see the connection between the team and the nation which was special enough to be part. All boys like to play for him and, his fingers crossed, he can take us to a World Cup.
Christie in action against Bruno Fernandes of Portugal during a meeting of the League of Nations
Highlander Christie plans to join the Scottish team when the qualifications start in September. Currently, it focuses on the next months of recovery and rehabilitation. Last week, he underwent a three -hour operation that he hopes to allow him to play without pain.
“Apparently, I was facing everyone when I got out of the surgery, but I don’t remember anything, so I had to be in the right place.
“I undergone double-hernia surgery plus a storage of the groin in my abductor. It was probably better to do everything in the blow, so it brings me back faster.
“I first started to feel a serious pre-season pain. I managed to master it until October, November, December with injection therapy and things like that. “But, from January. It was difficult. Do not really train a lot and then take pain relievers to play games. Even with that, my groin would abandon me after an hour and I should withdraw and sit down.
“It simply limits your game. I haven’t been able to sprint for about six months. I spoke to other players who had the same kind of thing. Kieran Tierney had the same problem in his youth in Celtic. Specialists told me that it was a complicated part of the body. One thing that is not going to trigger other problems. It is frustrating, especially when you are not on pain relievers, knowing that you cannot play your maximum.
“A few days ago when you feel good in training, but you have to stop or pay the next day. It was difficult, mentally, to roll up my head and it was difficult for most of the season.
Christie, against Kovacic in Man City, was one of the best field circles in the Premier League
“Huge credit to the medical staff I have around me in Bournemouth. They launched me the kitchen sink to put me in the game position. Without them, there is no way that I would have played the number of games I managed.
This part of the groin aside, the former star of Inverness, Celtic and Aberdeen had an differently incredible season in Bournemouth. Television experts have regularly rented it as one of the most influential fields of the upper level in England. It is therefore a surprise that he does not consider it as his best campaign.
“I know what you mean. I loved this season. I played a lot of minutes and a lot of games and we have succeeded very well, which was brilliant.
“But it’s strange to think that at the end of my career, I will probably come back this season as my most stressful and my most frustrating because of the 24/7 pain that I had to bear between the games which, obviously, were out of the public’s eyes. Again, I don’t want to moan because I enjoyed this season so much, but it was frustrating in terms of pain management.
“I can’t wait to play football without this pain. This is the most exciting thing for me. I hope that I will be in a brilliant place at the start of the season and that, in turn, puts me in a good place when the World Cup qualifications take place. I have always said that I am very proud of the number of caps in Scotland that I have. I haven’t been thinking for a million years when I was younger, I would do a lot, so I’m desperate to continue adding to this total.
Could future apparitions in Scotland see him play in this deeper role that he occupies so effectively for Bournemouth? What does Iraola sees that Clarke does not do? The gaze on Christie’s face tells me that this is a question that was asked too often.
Christie celebrates another success by Bournemouth with her Glamor Fiancée Georgie Bell
Christie and Bell should marry this summer, but will Ryan be in good shape for the first dance?
“When I played for Scotland for the first time under this manager, I was a wing and I don’t think I was getting out of this position, so I don’t think I never expected to play elsewhere for the national team. I love to play for Scotland everything that I am asked to do. As a country, we seem to have a history of production of incredible central fields, so I think there is a lot of coverage in this part of the field without my imply.
Christie married La Fiancée Georgie Bell in June. Maybe he would have missed these two friendly games anyway?
“No, I had planned as well in advance,” he says. “I would have managed to make games in Scotland and then have the wedding afterwards.
“If surgery had been in summer, the main problem would have finished the first dance with my new wife, but I hope I will be doing that!”
Their boy Leo will have his second birthday three days before the wedding. And it is the little boy who ends our interview as he rushes into the room.
“He seems to have an understanding of my situation,” smiles Christie. “He constantly rushes towards me, pointing my stomach and shouting:” sore “, so I think he realizes that his old man had a little pain.”
