Archived News from August 2004
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CHRISTIE EAGER TO PROVE CURLE WRONG
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CHRISTIE EAGER TO PROVE CURLE WRONG
Source: Express & Star IYSEDEN Christie is looking for his Kidderminster team-mates to prove he has made the right move tomorrow - for several reasons. Burly striker Christie, 27, returned to full training this week after a foot injury and is likely to be an interested observer at Field Mill when Harriers visit play-off finalists Mansfield. Monday's D-Day with the consultant was the final chapter in a nightmare which started with a broken foot in March and continued with his release from Mansfield in the summer. Christie is unlikely to be fit to face the Stags tomorrow as he works his way towards full fitness, but nonetheless he is itching to prove Mansfield boss Keith Curle wrong. "Whoever I've spoken to in football can't understand why Mansfield released me and neither do I," said Christie. "Sometimes your face doesn't fit and I think I was too strong-minded for Keith Curle. He was a new manager and I felt he couldn't deal with me." The former Leyton Orient attacker is convinced he fell foul of Curle because he was prepared to have his say. "Because I was quite prepared to ask why I wasn't playing and voiced my opinions, sometimes he didn't like that," said Christie. "It was more a clash of words and it became like a rock and a hard place." Christie said he tried to resolve the situation with Curle by meeting with the former Wolves defender, but to no avail. "When he came in, I told him I felt uncomfortable about the way I was being treated and that I wasn't really keen on him as a person," added Christie. "Towards the end of my second season it got better, but by then I think the decision had been made for me." Ironically Christie had his best goalscoring season in Curle's first campaign in charge, bagging 19 despite Mansfield's relegation to Division Three. And he had scored a respectable nine in 27 before breaking his foot in March. "If I'm honest it definitely wasn't a footballing thing because I've had a fairly good scoring record over the last two years. It was purely personal," said Christie. "I went through a stage of scoring two in two and got a penalty in the third game then got dropped. "It was difficult to live with. You feel you're doing OK and that was the story of my season really." |
Latest | August 2004