When Brendan Rodgers spoke of Timothy Weah’s shirt being a little heavier than everyone else’s virtue of his famous father, Ryan Christie may well have shared a knowing look with the American teenager. Well, a nod in his direction at least.

Charlie Christie and George Weah might only have the odd Ballon d’or or FIFA World Player of the Year between them and that’s without mention of Weah’s senior current Presidential status. But if the bodyguard who watched Weah from a distance in Celtic’s hotel base in Dubai might be a little bit of the unknown for the rest of the Parkhead squad, Christie can at least bail him out having shared a little bit of the father-who-has-been-there t-shirt.

Christie senior’s more humble role in the Highlands is in sharp contrast to the glitz of Weah’s glorious career but it didn’t make the former Inverness player let up any on his son as Christie junior moved through the ranks.

“I don’t think my dad is up with his….my dad would beat your dad!” laughed Christie.

“At the time, it certainly felt like a hindrance to me but, once you grow up and become a bit more mature, you realise how much of a help that was. I’m very lucky to have someone so close to me who’s been through a career in football and who knows all the pitfalls there are.

“My dad coached me and I thought it was hell for a few years but now I realise how important that was.

“To be fair, he’s always been supportive and he was delighted when I signed my new deal with Celtic. He’s been brilliant – he knows the game and what happens in it and he’s a great person to turn to if I need any help or advice.

“There was never much pressure put on me and it wasn’t too bad, growing up in Inverness. However, because he coached me, if I had a bad game then the whole team would suffer the team talk and then go home – only I’d go back with my dad and it would keep going until bedtime. It could be a bit relentless.

“Obviously, back then you don’t see the bigger picture; it’s only now that you realise he always had the best intentions.”

Celtic host St Mirren this evening as they resume league duties and Christie is eager to start piecing together a consistent run of form.

With the game coming too soon for Odsonne Edouard who has resumed training but isn’t yet fully fit, it will be interesting to see whether Weah is given the starting shirt after his impressive cameo on Saturday.

“He was getting a bit of stick for his celebration – it seemed to go on for about five minutes,” joked Christie. “Fair play to him, he has been eager to get going since he joined us in Dubai. So I think everyone was delighted for him to get a goal on his debut.

“You can see he’s wanting to learn. He is still very young and for all the qualities he has got he is very humble. You certainly wouldn’t think he has come from a club like PSG that’s for sure. You can see his desire to come here and work hard.

“He has a great American accent – he is getting a bit of stick for that as well. But he has fitted in really well.”

Five out of the next six of Celtic’s game are on home soil, something that Christie expects can enable the Parkhead side to find a consistent run of form as they look to put a bit of daylight between themselves and Rangers at the top of the table. Despite that ambition, though, Christie has insisted that there is nothing taken for granted as Celtic look to crank things up.

“We’re looking to push on now and we spoke about that when we joined up in Dubai," said the playmaker. "We said we wanted to hit the ground running after the break and stamp our authority on the league .

“First and foremost we want to stay on top of the table but, after that, if we can we want to create a gap between ourselves and the rest. It’s great having a wee run of fixtures at home and, hopefully, that will stand us in good stead.

“We’ve already dropped points to St Mirren this season so I don’t think we can take this – or any other home game – as a gimme. Every team in the league comes to Celtic Park with a game plan, looking to frustrate us.

“Consequently, no home games are easy. Even Airdrie, at the weekend, had an honesty about them and they frustrated us for the first part of the game. St Mirren are of a higher calibre but they’ll be looking to do the same.”

Oliver Burke had a tough debut on Saturday, although having played so little football all season it was always going to be a tough ask for the 21-year-old to make it through the 90 minutes. Christie, though, has welcomed the challenge of having players in various positions pushing for places.

“You want competition so it keeps your game as at high a level as possible,” he said. “The more different options we have going forward the more it is going to help us between now and the end of the season. It is only a positive for me.”