CELTIC midfielder Ryan Christie says that Aberdeen and Hearts will be challenging the Old Firm clubs for the league title next season.
Rangers were promoted back to the top-flight after winning the 2015/16 Championship title, but the 21-year-old doesn't expect last year's second and third-placed sides to lose momentum.
Christie, who joined the Hoops last summer but spent the first half of the season back at Inverness Caley Thistle on loan, also expressed his excitement at working under new manager Brendan Rodgers.
Read more: Celtic to host Rangers in September as full Premiership fixtures for 2016/17 are released
The Bhoys begin their campaign away to Hearts on August 6 after the fixtures were released today, with the first Old Firm derby scheduled to take place on September 10 at Parkhead.
"There are so many games that are important this season," he said.
"We start with a big one away to Hearts and there is also Aberdeen and Rangers to come.
"Having the Old Firm game back is only going to be a positive thing for the league and attract a lot of attention.
"But I wouldn't say it is just between us and Rangers. Aberdeen and Hearts will be looking to push on as well.
"I'm sure a lot of players will be keeping (the semi-final defeat to Rangers) in their heads but it's a new season and we'll be looking to push on.
"We're back in training on Monday and I'm hoping to hit the ground running,
"I've got no regrets coming down to Celtic because I'm very happy with the way I've progressed these last six months.
"Obviously with the way last season finished, scoring in the final game against Motherwell sent me away on my holidays in a good mood.
"I got a couple of starts in the final two games of the season so it has made me more determined to kick-on this season. It made me feel like I've got a future here.
"We've got a lot of big games before the leagues starts, so it's important to impress the manager straight away.
"I've not had a chance to speak to him yet but I'm looking forward to meeting him and to see what his ideas are.
"It's a brilliant appointment. I've been really looking forward to working with him since it was announced. It just shows how big a club Celtic really are.
"My mindset going into training next week is it's like a clean slate and your job to impress him every day in training and try to get in his thoughts of the season ahead.
"The games coming up are so big that if you play well in them you have managed to put yourself in the gaffer's thoughts straight away.
"That's what I'll be looking to do and I'm sure the other lads will be too."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel