Born in Inverness in 1966, Christie began his professional football career in 1983, playing for Caledonian in the Scottish Highland Football League. In 1985 he was transferred to local rivals Inverness Thistle. In September 1987 he signed for Celtic, where he made 56 appearances and scored 25 goals for the reserve team. He was unable to break into the Celtic first team, partly due to the performances of Frank McAvennie, who played in the same striker position. Christie rejoined Caledonian in 1989, in the combined role of player and commercial manager.