Andy Ritchie (Scottish footballer)
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| Andy Ritchie | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Andrew Ritchie | |
| Date of birth | February 23, 1956 | |
| Place of birth | Bellshill, Scotland | |
| Playing position | Attacking Midfielder | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1973-1976 1976-1983 1983-1984 1984 1984 1984-1985 |
Celtic Morton Motherwell Clydebank East Stirlingshire Albion Rovers |
9 (1) 213 (100) 8 (1) 1 (0) 1 (0) 6 (2) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Andrew "Andy" Ritchie (Born 23 February 1956 in Bellshill) was a Scottish professional footballer.
Contents |
[edit] Career at Morton
As a teenager Ritchie had trials with Manchester United, Coventry City, Everton, Middlesbrough and Rangers, but chose to join Celtic in 1971, aged 15. Soon after, Ritchie was 'farmed' out to Junior team Kirkintilloch Rob Roy. At Celtic, Ritchie had numerous disagreements with legendary manager Jock Stein, which led to his transfer to Greenock Morton. As part of the transfer, Morton goalkeeper Roy Baines joined Celtic in exchange for Ritchie and a payment of £10,000.
Ritchie is most famous for his seven years at Greenock Morton, during which he scored 118 goals. He was revered by the club's fans earned the nicknames 'the King of Cappielow Park' and 'The Idle Idol'.[1]
He made his debut for Morton on 28 October 1976 and scored 133 goals in 246 games for the club. He was the top scorer in the Premier League for three consecutive years.
Ritchie was famous for what, by the standard of most professional footballers, was a rotund build and apparently blase demeanour. Scottish football journalist Chick Young saw Ritchie as "the epitome of the Scottish footballer - a fat, lazy bastard, but with great ball skill".[2] He was renowned in Scotland for his expertise in free-kicks, reputedly perfected by observing Brazil train for the 1974 World Cup.[3] His signature, demonstrated in more than one competitive match, was the ability to bend the ball into the net from a corner kick. His best and most famous goal was scored against Aberdeen at Cappielow Park.
In a famous incident Ritchie almost broke his leg falling over Greenock Telegraph photographer, Jim Sinclair, after he failed to stop on a long run up the field.
[edit] Career after Morton
Ritchie was transferred from Morton to Motherwell in 1983. He was player-manager for Albion Rovers in season 1984-85. He retired in 1985, aged 28. Later, he took up a coaching/scouting role for Celtic and subsequent scouting roles for Aston Villa and Manchester City. He is currently an official SPL match observer[4] His biography, "The King of Cappielow" will be published on 11th October 2008. See Morton FC website for details
[edit] Awards
Ritchie received the Scottish Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award in 1979.
In 2005, he was voted 'cult hero' in an internet poll for the BBC television's Football Focus programme, receiving 64% of votes cast for Morton players.[5]
[edit] Quotes
Some quotes from the book Greenock Morton 1874-1999 by Vincent P Gillen (ISBN 0-9534559-0-4)
- "Andy Ritchie - I can close my eyes and see the day as clear as you like. Morton were getting a doing by Dundee Utd and the defence was under siege. Big Andy was standing at the centre circle, hands inside his shirt sleeves, looking at the seagulls, bored out of his skull, when Davie Hayes blootered the ball out - it was just Andy and Paul Hegarty left, and Andy, you couldn't slip a copy of the Greenock Telegraph under his feet when he jumped.
- Hegarty jumped and missed and Ritchie did what Pelé couldn't do and volleyed the ball past Hamish from the half way line!
- "Big Andy was always full of the verbal - always had a smile on his face, especially when he nutmegged you. I think in fact with the goal he scored in the Scottish Cup, players were always that terrified of Andy nutmegging them that they would shut their legs and he curled it roon them , you know.
- He had such a good footballing brain that he sussed things like that. He had scored the one from 50 yards and he was in his own half, nobody near him and he shouted "Big Yin, ye'd better pick me up, I'll probably score from here - your talking 60-70 yards and I was thinking, he's got a point, I better get across. He was the scourge of the Dons in those days." - Alex McLeish
- "Richie came at the right time - he was the cream at the top of the cake at the time...he got the label of being a lazy player and he nurtured that a little bit... I used to train him on his own, he trained hard. He was a character, his skills were unbelievable, his passing, his vision, his dead ball situations.. there was a free kick at a preseason game, we had a wee thing with Watford at the time... and they came about three seasons in a row. I can always remember this one game, Andy had a free kick just over the centre circle...they don't put a wall up or anything and Mick (Jackson) says, it was his first game, "He's not going to shoot from there" , just leave him I says, he hits the ball in the roof of the net...he was that good" - Benny Rooney
"I was 26 when I finished. I went into a spell at Cappielow when, rightly or wrongly, I felt I should have been the first player to get a big move. The club had promised me that, if I did well, they would move me again. But that didn't happen. As my team-mates moved on, the good times evaporated and I was left behind. I have to admit my appetite diminished, my general play wasn't good and I lost my way. It was not a conscious decision. In fact, when I moved to Motherwell they didn't want to announce it at Morton because they thought they wouldn't sell season tickets for the next year. I had lost my way. I was what you would call these days a sick pup. I really needed someone to have some faith in me, but I was 26 and ended up taking a non-football job in London and gave up." - Andy Ritchie, Daily Mail, May 8 2004
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Tom Gallagher. "Andy Ritchie Fans Eye View". "The Independent". Retrieved on 14 May 2007.
- ^ Vincent P Gillen. "Greenock Morton 1874-1999". Retrieved on 14 May 2007.
- ^ "Andy Ritchie". The Scotsman. Retrieved on 14 May 2007.
- ^ "SPL Match Observers". Retrieved on 14 May 2007.
- ^ "BBC Football Focus 'cult hero' poll". Retrieved on 14 May 2007.
| Preceded by Derek Johnstone |
Scottish Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year 1979 |
Succeeded by Gordon Strachan |
"www.riddlewrites.co.uk"
John Riddle, Sports Editor, Tenerife has written The King of Cappielow, the story of Andy Ritchie.
