| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Matthew Thomas Ritchie[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 10 September 1989 | ||
| Place of birth | Gosport, England | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Playing position | Left winger | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Swindon Town | ||
| Number | 10 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2002–2008 | Portsmouth | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2008–2011 | Portsmouth | 7 | (0) |
| 2008–2009 | → Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) | 37 | (11) |
| 2009–2010 | → Notts County (loan) | 16 | (3) |
| 2010 | → Swindon Town (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2010-2011 | → Swindon Town (loan) | 12 | (3) |
| 2011- | Swindon Town | 41 | (10) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09:01, 26 October 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Matthew Thomas "Matt" Ritchie (born 10 September 1989) is an English football player, who currently plays as a left winger for Swindon Town.
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Ritchie has been involved in Portsmouth's academy since he turned 13. Before-hand he was playing football locally in Gosport. After signing his first professional contract with the club,[2] and a positive 2008–09 pre-season campaign, including a hat-trick in a 4–1 victory over hometown club Gosport Borough,[3] Ritchie was taken on trial alongside fellow academy graduate Joel Ward by Bournemouth with a view to a loan move to help give the youngsters important first-team experience in league football. Ritchie was however kept at Portsmouth following a number of injuries to first-team midfielders. He was called up to Portsmouth's UEFA Cup squad as a home-grown talent and presented with the squad number 36.
On the 14th April Ritchie made his debut for Portsmouth in the Premier League game at Wigan Athletic. He played 79 minutes but was then substituted for Frédéric Piquionne.
For the 2010–11 season, Ritchie was handed the number 5 shirt and was selected in Portsmouth's starting XI for their first match of the season at Coventry City.[4] However, Ritchie soon found himself out of the Portsmouth line-up and, with the club having disbanded its reserve team, manager Steve Cotterill agreed to loan out the player for fitness reasons.[5]
Ritchie played reserve and academy football at Pompey until late September and continued to impress until he was taken on a one-month loan deal by League Two club Dagenham & Redbridge.[6] He made his Football League debut against Rotherham United on the 27 September 2008, coming on as a late substitute.[7] He scored on his first competitive start for the Daggers in a 2–0 win over Rochdale.[8] He scored again in his next match, a 2–0 win over Barnet.[9] Daggers boss John Still has been hugely impressed with Ritchie's initial impact at the club. Speaking after the match against Barnet, Still had to say: "He's got a terrific leap. He showed that with his goal. He's come in and done very well. [The] Nicest kid in the world. Come down from a Premier League club. No big time about him. Harry Redknapp and Paul Hart speak ever so well of him. It's a pleasure to have him. He's got a smile on his face in training and loves being here."
Still has also made it clear he wishes to extend the loan deal of Ritchie until later on in the season.[10] Dagenham announced on 30 December that Ritchie would remain with the club until the end of the current season.[11] His impressive performances have seen him rewarded with a new two-year deal at Portsmouth,[12] and their young player of the Season Award.
On 28 July 2009, it was reported that Notts County, were on talks with Portsmouth over a six-figure fee for his services, believed to be £100,000. On 1 September 2009, he signed on a loan deal until 31 December. [13] After Danny Wilson failed to secure Ritchie's services on a permanent deal during the transfer window, it was announced on 11 February 2010 that Swindon Town signed the midfielder on loan for the remainder of the season.[14] Following his loan move to Swindon, he made his debut on 23 February against Stockport County after coming on for Danny Ward after 25 minutes.[15]
However, due his parent club Portsmouth's mounting injury list, he was recalled in March and was named on the bench for their 2–0 Premier League loss at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur after making four appearances for Swindon in his first loan.
On 4 October, Ritchie was loaned again to Swindon Town, in a one month deal.[16] Two weeks later the deal was extended to two months.[17] Ritchie scored his first goal for Swindon against Peterborough United in a 5–4 loss which followed up scoring his second against Bournemouth in a 2–1 loss and his third goal was a 4–2 win over Charlton Athletic. Ritchie made 16 appearance and scoring three during his loan spell with Swindon twice.
On 7 January 2011, Swindon Town signed Ritchie on a two-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee. Ritchie added to his tally with the goal 2010–11 season against Bournemouth again in a 3-2 loss, 4-1 loss against Southampton, 1–1 draw against Hartlepool United and 2–1 loss against Notts County.
Under Paolo Di Canio, Ritchie was in the starting eleven and on scoring forms against Oxford United, Shrewsbury Town, Rotherham United, scoring twice against Barnet and Gillingham.
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | FL Trophy | Others | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Portsmouth | 2008–09 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) | 2008–09 | 37 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 12 |
| Portsmouth | 2009–10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Notts County (loan) | 2009 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 3 |
| Swindon Town (loan) | 2010 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Portsmouth | 2010–11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Swindon Town (loan) | 2010–11 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 4 |
| Swindon Town | 2011 | 24 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 4 |
| Swindon Town | 2011–12 | 17 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 105 | 24 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 113 | 23 | |
|title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". Teamtalk.com. http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,1782_4344933,00.html. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
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