Charlie Christie in the Sunday Times

[beachcomber]

Sunday Times Article

[Johnboy]

Brilliant interview.... A real shame he feels half of our supporters are against him.... that is not the case, but I do wish the Bonzos, and the Midge55's of this world would shut the feck up...

CC... You're doing a great job..... Please don't let these ignorant and pathetic barstewards grind you down....  :018:

[CELTIC1CALEY3]

Sensible article. Realism from a leader. Now get behind him and the team regardless of current form.

[tm4tj]

Well said CC, wish I had read this first, would have saved me writing war & peace :003:

[Johnboy]

Well said CC, wish I had read this first, would have saved me writing war & peace :003:

Are you CC's script writer, TM4TJ...?  :023:

[tm4tj]

:015:

I feel for CC, he is on a hiding to nothing and people on here are only adding to the fuel to undermine his position. He may be to polite to say it, but for fecks sake can we all just give the guy a break, it's a difficult enough task without the 'I told you so' brigade on here gloating every time ICT fail to thrash someone.

He is trying his best and he cares a lot for this club, some of the 'supporters' would do well to remember this and show the same loyalty. :018:

[Guest Sandy Cromarty]

He says he wants to learn Italian and if he's succesfull with us he would consider other offers, feck me Charlie, Inter Milan or Lazio??

Decent enough interview though a bit prosaic by the scoop but that comes with writing for The Times, by the way beachcomber do you carry it home in a barra? thats some sunday paper and they must fell a forest a week to print it.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

That certainly does not endear him too me. From the early days of his appointment he has had a go at the fans - understandable and fair at times - but he now goes on a self-pity offensive with the love of the club appeal, his personal life, the comparisons with the days of yore and an apparent disbelief that the fans are not simply happy with their lot.

Well - sorry - Smell the feckin roses. That was a concoction of sentimental defense mechanisms and the rationalisation and projection processes hide either an underlying self doubt and/or a worrying naievity.

CC is a legend and always will be. I will support him and the club to my death bed. But why doesnt he simply admit his mistakes and errors - he is after all beginning his learning at the highest level. Of course he is going to make mistakes.

Brewster did put his hands up quite a few times.

[Johnboy]

From the early days of his appointment he has had a go at the fans - 

I can't remember him having a go at the fans in the 11 months he's been in charge, but maybe it's time he did....

Sentimental defence mechanisms? - underlying self doubt? If he ever reads any of the cr@p that appears on here, he very soon will be exhibiting all manner of sinister characteristics....

It must be time for your afternoon nap now, Sigmund... Get back to us when we're propping up the SPL with Dunfermline & St Mirren out of reach.... 

[The Mantis]

Never mind the Italian Charlie- a good day in the hills will sort everything out  :015:

He's right though, as TM4TJ says elsewhere, everybody thinks they know better than him how to do the job.

[Stevie]

Good article.

I remember thinking when Charlie took the job that he would be peeing against the wind before too long. The club was progressing at an incredible rate of knots and sadly it wouldn't be able to keep this up. It didn't matter who took the job, there would have to be some kind of levelling off.

If a manager in any walk of life is looking for a job, he's ideally loking for a business that he can turn around and make his mark on. I mean what mug will follow Alex Ferguson at Man U.

As far as I'm concerned CC is doing well, hey I'm not saying for one minute that I can't see that the team aren't playing particulary well just now. People nowadays don't seem to allow their club to have a lean spell without sacking the boss.

[Guest Sandy Cromarty]

'CC... You're doing a great job..... Please don't let these ignorant and pathetic barstewards grind you down'

Nine games without a win and a player ripping his shirt off???

[Johnboy]

Blackie gave his all yesterday....  he was brilliant. His anger at getting subbed was understandable....  CC & Donald obviously wanted to ensure Blackie would be in the starting line up to face Rangers & St Mirren....No doubt they explained their thinking to the wee man...and no doubt he accepted it. 

Blackie's anger was nothing compared to Neil "Feckin" Lennon seeing red yesterday at Vatican City ..... :015:

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Oh what a load of sanctimonious tawts have inherited this once glorious forum - now that sounds as defensive as CC.  :015: :015: :015:

Why dont we all inherit the small town "hick" thinking!!!

[Johnboy]

Merry Christmas to you too, you moaning old git..... :icon_santa:

[+CaleyD]

If ANY player in a team of mine "ripped their shirt off" in public view, regardless of the reasons, then they would be up for a fine and possibly a spell on the sidelines.

In my book thats not only a total lack of respect for your manager, but also the badge your playing for.

One pr two of our players are starting to get ideas above their station and developing selfish attitudes.  I don't believe for one minute they are throwing these tantrums because they felt they should stay on the pitch for the benefit of the team.  It's about time CC started taking a hard line with these players before the attitude spreads and others start to think it is acceptable behaviour.

[Johnboy]

Well I sincerely hope Black isn't dropped for the Rangers or St Mirren game.... he was one of the few players on the field on Saturday who looked as though he could have helped us get a win.

This game we all love so much has a long history of great players who could throw their toys out the pram when things didn't go quite as they would have liked.... Billy Bremner, Kevin Keegan, Graeme Souness,  Butch Wilkins, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, many more all with one thing in common.... a fierce desire and a passion to win things.... A good management team should endeavour to nurture that kind of talent and comittment.... not kick it in the boll0cks......

[Guest Get_off_the_park_Wyness!]

"“Sadly that’s a mentality in this area, that we don’t look for people to rise and do well,” says Christie. “It’s the Highland mentality, "

Garbage. And what a cheek he has slagging off Highlanders for not being positive when he himself just a few paragraphs later is coming out with dour cr@p like...

" “The best thing we could have done is avoided relegation by one point in our first season and two points in the next.."

You what????!!!!  :006: :006: :006: :006: :006:

"The good thing was that everybody I asked, to a person, said, ‘You’ve got to give it a go.’ Things can change in life and there are times when you need a challenge. A local publican I know sent me an e-mail at that time. He wrote that he’d made good and bad decisions in life, but even the bad ones were worth the ride."

Hmm, slightly contradicting himself here isn't he? Everyone is behind him, but everyone wants him to fail.

" We are a small club and I’d hate to think if I’m not manager here, that’s my days at the club ended. I’d be absolutely devastated if that were the case and I think it would be a bad decision for the club to lose my experience. "

He doesn't want his days at the club to end, what a guy! But then he says...

"If I’m a success here, and that’s still a big if, and things go my way, then if that opens other doors and brings other opportunities I would certainly consider them... I’d like to think I might have something to offer someone else.” "

So he doesn't actually want to stay then... and he's learning Italian :006: fancies himself for Seria A does he? :015: Don't like the craic he's come out with in that article at all!  :023: 

[Bridge_Ender]

"We should enjoy the moment because for 100 years we didn’t have this. It’s amazing how quickly people have taken it for granted."

Agree with that, but not to stop striving to be better.

“The best thing we could have done is avoided relegation by one point in our first season and two points in the next."

Bullsh1t. That shows no ambition. You could argue realism but it really isn't what you want to hear the manager say.

"Too many can lean towards wanting to be better, rather than remembering how well we’ve done,” he complains."

Complaining that we want to get better?! Hopefully that is just the journo's take.

“It’s the Highland mentality, disappointingly, that there are as many people wanting me to fall flat on my face as take this club on."

The Highland mentality, IMO, is settling for much less than you are entitled too and is borne out by everyone with any ambition always having to leave the area as Inverness/the Highlands have traditionally been totally devoid of any real opportunities. So Charlie thinks the Highland mentality is to knock things down? I think anyone with any ambition gets support, Charlie is arguing that he isn't getting enough praise but see's avoiding relegation by 1 point as success??

Bad article for CC, if he is reading this he'll probably ignore this and keep thinking the world is against him. I'm proud of where ICT are and how quick we got here but this isn't the limit of our ambitions. We're as good and potentially as big as 3/4 of the clubs in this league, if Charlie is gonna keep with the small town attitude then he probably hasn't got the ambition to take us further.

[The Mantis]

“The best thing we could have done is avoided relegation by one point in our first season and two points in the next."

I think everybody's reading too much into this. He means by doing so well, narrowly avoiding top 6, the team has just made a rod for its own back. He means nobody would have been disappointed if we'd just stayed up the first season, everybody expected us to fail anyway.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Sorry have to disagree - if he goes into the job thinking it is all about preservation then tactically we are fecked. You should always set your sights on at least equalling yer previous attaintments.

[The Mantis]

But that's what he's trying to say if you ask me, just a wee bit progress each year.

BTW that was your 1000th post, you can retire now  :023:

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I think ya just hit the nail with the feckin hammer.

[Guest Sandy Cromarty]

When a life long fan comes out and says we need change then the club needs to listen, it's no longer erses to the wall and three monkeys, we are deep in keech and we all know it.

[ictchris]

"We should enjoy the moment because for 100 years we didn’t have this. It’s amazing how quickly people have taken it for granted."

Agree with that, but not to stop striving to be better.

“The best thing we could have done is avoided relegation by one point in our first season and two points in the next."

Bullsh1t. That shows no ambition. You could argue realism but it really isn't what you want to hear the manager say.

"Too many can lean towards wanting to be better, rather than remembering how well we’ve done,” he complains."

Complaining that we want to get better?! Hopefully that is just the journo's take.

“It’s the Highland mentality, disappointingly, that there are as many people wanting me to fall flat on my face as take this club on."

The Highland mentality, IMO, is settling for much less than you are entitled too and is borne out by everyone with any ambition always having to leave the area as Inverness/the Highlands have traditionally been totally devoid of any real opportunities. So Charlie thinks the Highland mentality is to knock things down? I think anyone with any ambition gets support, Charlie is arguing that he isn't getting enough praise but see's avoiding relegation by 1 point as success??

Bad article for CC, if he is reading this he'll probably ignore this and keep thinking the world is against him. I'm proud of where ICT are and how quick we got here but this isn't the limit of our ambitions. We're as good and potentially as big as 3/4 of the clubs in this league, if Charlie is gonna keep with the small town attitude then he probably hasn't got the ambition to take us further.

Excellent post.  I think that in the article Charlie seems to come across as wondering why he isn't lauded to high heavens.  Well, you have to achieve things to do that - we have shown over the last two seasons what we are capable of achieving and we should be matching that level of achievement.  We haven't lost significant players (aside from Brewster) yet our performance level has dipped.  As supporters we are entitled to ask why this is the case.  I paid £21 to watch absolute rubbish on Saturday, £21 I could hardly afford, I am entitled to say - why did we play a striker who has never shown that he is capable to play at the SPL when there was a far more capable alternative on the bench; why does our midfield slip into bouts of abject disorganisation; why do our best midfielder and striker appear in the press criticising the club; why does our record signing not look worth half his fee?

Of course, there are positives too at the club, no-one could argue that this is not the case.  Charlie has shown himself to be an innovative manager - his changing around of the side won us the game agaisnt Falkirk, he organised the team superbly to lead us to win at Rangers, the first half against Killie we displayed some superb attacking football; last season he immediately put Wyness and Dargo together up front and they put together a magnificent scoring run.

Asking these questions doesn't make anyone a bigger or better fan than anyone else.