Ritchie, Andy

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Quotes

APPEARANCES	LEAGUE	SCOTTISH CUP	LEAGUE CUP	EUROPE	TOTAL
1971-76	9	–	1	–	10
Goals:	1	–	1	–	2

• 1973-74

By Moira Gordon
(The Scotsman newspaper)

IT WAS the Scottish Cup in 1981 and Andy Ritchie scored a wonder goal. Playing for Morton he turned Aberdeen’s Willie Miller and Alex McLeish inside out before shooting past Jim Leighton. It dumped Alex Ferguson’s Pittodrie side out the competition and although the enraged manager stormed out of the post-match press conference, refusing to relive it, others have been happy to do so for almost three decades.

Ritchie isn’t necessarily one of them, though. For him it is a flash of light among the gloom because he knows there “could have and should have” been more moments like that. “There’s that old adage that ability will always be beaten by hard work if ability doesn’t work hard enough,” he says.

Having started out under Jock Stein at Celtic Park, his lack of dedication and his possession of an attitude he now fully recognises as unprofessional led to too many run-ins with the legendary manager and blocked his pathway to greater success. At Morton he became a Cappielow legend but he knows that was a fraction of the accolades he could have earned. A wonderful raconteur, it’s only when he contemplates his own failings that his outlook becomes almost mournful. Watching him struggle to contain his emotions as the disappointment corrodes like an acid within, it might have been better if he had never really twigged.

But he did which is why, while he once struggled with demons such as drink, drugs and destructive thinking, more recent battles have been with depression.

There must be some consolation in knowing that people who witnessed his moments of genius knew they had been fortunate to see a true football player, someone says. His mood as he considers his response suggests not.

“A little. But, when I look back on it now, through a cloud or through the mist, I know I only achieved 50 per cent of what I could have achieved and that’s always in my mind.”

There is an attempt at more consoling words, after all one man’s 50 per cent is better than another man’s 100 per cent. He can’t make eye contact as he swallows back the emotion and composes himself. “I can’t speak for anyone else but they are probably sitting in their house today knowing that they gave their career 100 per cent and that’s the best they could do, I never gave it 100 per cent so it’s not the best I could do. The fleeting moments you are talking about gradually fade back into the distance but I’m left with the regrets and the knowledge that I could have, should have, achieved more. It wasn’t anybody else’s fault. Others can paint as many pictures in their mind as they want but I have to live with that.”

Yet, the likes of McLeish talk of his audacity, and his artistry. “Players were always that terrified of Andy nutmegging them that they would shut their legs but then he curled it round them. He had such a good footballing brain, he sussed things like that. He had scored 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’. We’re talking 60-70 yards but I was thinking, ‘he’s got a point, I’d better get across!'”

Such was his ability, even as a part-time player with Morton, he was the top goalscorer in the country aged 22 and was named Scottish player of the year in 1979. Yet he had a shift tarring the roads that day, and only completed his work a few hours before the awards ceremony.

His tale is well-documented in the new book Flawed Genius – Scottish Football’s Self-Destructive Mavericks by journalist Stephen McGowan and details his aversion to training, the love of drinking and partying and the consequences for his career. “They say that things that come easy are easy given away,” he says. “At 14/15 I never thought about being a football player. I played with the school and local teams but my whole life changed one Sunday at Cumbernauld when I went to play a trial game as a stand-in for somebody who didn’t want to go. It was a Middlesbrough trial and I played for half an hour and then they took me off. But after the game they said they wanted me to go down to Middlesbrough. Manchester United were there as well, and Celtic were there and Rangers were in my house by the time I got back. I had all these places, Coventry, Tottenham Hotspur….”

He chose Celtic and still it came easy. At Celtic boys club he grabbed more than a century of goals, before being farmed out to junior side Kirkintilloch Rob Roy where he added a further 36 goals in 14 games. That forced Celtic to recall him. He went straight into the reserves and two weeks before his 17th birthday, he made his first team debut. The talent was there, it was the application that was absent and after locking horns with Stein time and again, he ultimately swaggered down the path of least resistance.

“I would swap anything to have been a top class player at Celtic Park. I wanted to play and be a success at Celtic but I just got lost in the turmoil at that time. I never got a game and people came in and jumped the queue and instead of knuckling down and working a bit harder, I took the easy way out.”

There have been a lot of regrets to absorb. In the book, the SPL match delegate describes both his career and his life as “a major let-down, not only to me but to many others as well.” Yet there are memories others will treasure and, whether they console him in his private moments or not, there is plenty to be proud of. Stories from his life are a collection of football travels, with big names taking starring roles and a series of wonderful achievements making cameo appearances.

During Tommy Burns’ managerial reign at Celtic, Ritchie returned to where it had all begun. As chief scout he was the man responsible for bringing Jorge Cadete, Paolo Di Canio, Pierre van Hooijdonk and Mark Viduka to Glasgow. It is a time in his life he does take pride in, a second chance to give 100 per cent at Celtic albeit in a non-playing capacity. That’s why it hurt when, after serving the scouting needs of Burns, Jo Venglos and Wim Jansen, he was ousted during the Kenny Dalglish era.

“The first time [as a player] I left Celtic, I chose to leave. The second time it was a decision taken for me so that was harder to take. If it was up to me I would still be there bringing in players to Celtic Park, players they could sell for more money than it cost to bring them in and who could play.”

With the transfer window now open Ritchie understands the importance of getting the right players in at Parkhead. He is lined up to take on a scouting role with Stockport County and he knows how easily the injection of flair can stimulate a support when passion is waning. “My time with Tommy Burns was a bit like that. we knew the type of players we wanted and there was a new stadium being built and 60,000 people would be there and we had to get their arse up off their seats every so often.”

To that end, he identified Georgi Kinkladze. The £5m price proved the ultimate deterrent but Ritchie says there are still bargains out there waiting to be unearthed, provided you know what you’re looking for and are prepared to travel in search of them.

“I remember looking at a list of 10 players that I had once and by the time we got round to doing something about it, they had all gone somewhere else.”

Ones that got away include Hidetoshi Nakata. In 1998 he was a serious target. Ritchie had him earmarked having been to watch him serval times. Jansen wanted him, the player was keen and a £1m fee was agreed. The marketing potential in bringing one of the first Asian players into Europe was immense. But, he motions, it went over the Celtic board’s head. they dragged their heels and the club lost out. “Two months after we made enquires, he dyed his hair red, went to the 98 World Cup and every bugger in the world knew who he was then.”

Van Hooijdonk was pinpointed in a video sent out by agents, with Earnie Stewart the intended subject matter. “Me and Tommy Burns sat in the office with a big pot of tea and a couple of packs of Jaffa Cakes watching it and I remember saying that big black boy is running out of ways of scoring goals, right foot, left foot, head, free kicks, penalty kicks.” He followed up and Fergus McCann paid the required £1m. “And a pal of mine in Italy told me about Di Canio. He said: ‘You’ll love him, he’s fantastic and your supporters will love him but your manager will hate him after about six or seven months!’ He was right enough.”

Then there was Cadete. He came courtesy of Sir Bobby Robson. “It was after the Barcelona game at Celtic Park and we were all milling about in the office. He asked what I did and I told him I was the chief scout. He asked what kind of players I was looking for and I said that wee boy (Ivan] De La Pena and if they fancied selling him I’d take him off their hands! It was idle chit chat and he said: ‘What else?’ I said I could do with a front player. Before he left he came across and in his hand was a bit of paper with the name Jorge Cadete on it! We made enquiries and he became available.”

These are more Ritchie moments that others treasure but he denies himself unbridled gratification. “I don’t think any scout would look at those players, hold their hands up and say that was a difficult job. A blind man on a galloping horse could see those boys could play!”

People could see that about Ritchie the player as well, but while he will argue he failed to fully deliver on the pitch, off it, more than two decades on, he did everything but tie a ribbon on the talent he presented the Celtic faithful at a time when they were most in need of it. For those deeds, he should have few regrets.

• Last Updated: 06 January 2010 10:31 PM
• Source: The Scotsman
• Location: Edinburgh

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The Bhoy in the Picture – Andy Ritchie

Written by St Anthony
Monday, 10 December 2012 21:16

http://celticunderground.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=979:the-heart-of-darkness&catid=49:season-2012-2013&Itemid=85

It has been suggested that Celtic were cursed during the 1970’s and there were many events that occurred during that decade which gave reason for this opinion.

– There was Jock Stein’s car accident which kept him out of commission for a year.

– There was George Connelly’s sad demise.

– There was the terrible injury to Brian McLaughlin which curtailed his Celtic career.

– There was Stevie Murray’s injury which ended his career.

– There was the toe injury to young John McCluskey which tragically ended his career before had had came out of his teenage years.

And then there was the enigma that was Andy Ritchie.

In 1971 Celtic won the race to sign Andy Ritchie who was something of a prodigy and had every major club in the UK chasing his signature. It was a real coup for Celtic to sign him and Jock Stein was said to be ecstatic at the thought of this great talent coming through at Parkhead.

Andy’s debut came in December 1973 against Dunfermline in a 6-0 win and the 17 year old Ritchie certainly made an impression when he came on as a sub for Billy McNeill.

‘Ritchie, the former Rob Roy striker who now plays midfield, unleashed a Peter Lorimer special from all of 35 yards which Karlsen picked up late in the falling gloom. A great save. (Evening Times 31 Dec 1973)

Andy continued to progress and when Stein was confined to hospital after being involved in a severe car crash, Sean Fallon who became temporary manager gave him his chance. He came on as a sub against Rangers in August 1975 and with Celtic 2-1 down he had a shot at goal which Peter McCloy saved when the ball fortunately stuck between his legs. McCloy had carried the luck and saved the day and one wonders how Andy Ritchie’s Celtic career would have developed had he scored the equaliser.

In February 1976 Celtic played Leeds United in what was described as a glamour friendly at Parkhead. Leeds at this time were still one of the powers of British football and boasted the fine Scots contingent of McQueen, Jordan, Lorimer, Eddie and Frankie Gray as well as Madeley, Hunter, McKenzie and Clarke.

A young Celtic side equipped itself well before going down to two late goals in a 1-3 defeat. However the highlight of the night had been Andy Ritchie’s goal.

‘After 28 minutes – on a growing suspicion that Leeds were suspect against the good old fashioned dribble – Ritchie flicked the ball past two defenders on the touch line near half way.

He beat three more as he advanced towards the penalty area and then hit a long low shot which Harvey was feet away from reaching. Parkhead, justly and jubilantly, acclaimed a small piece of magic.’ Glasgow Herald 12 Feb 1976)

In the summer of 1976 it was expected that Ritchie would now progress to become a first team regular but in essence his Celtic career was to end before it really started.

It was said that Andy had a lackadaisical attitude off the park as well as on and it appears that even the normally understanding Stein’s patience snapped.

In October 1976 Stein wanted Morton’s experienced keeper Roy Baines as cover for Peter Latchford. Morton manager Benny Rooney tried his luck and asked if Ritchie was available and Stein confirmed he was. However it’s claimed that on the day that Andy signed for Morton that big Jock had offered him a new contract and a new start. But Andy declined the offer and headed for Inverclyde.

He was an immediate hit at Cappielow and was one the best players in the Scottish game for a number of years. By 1979 he was rated in the £150,000 bracket but it’s felt that English teams backed off given his reputation for giving the minimum of effort on the park.

He returned to Parkhead and haunted Celtic on many occasions. The Celtic fans in the Jungle were particularly cruel to him with abusive chants which were most regrettable because talent like Ritchie had was to be admired.

Perhaps the best goal he ever scored came in March 1979 at Celtic Park when Celtic beat Morton 3-0. He collected the ball 35 yards out on the right hand side of the park on the Jungle side, flicked the ball up and swivelled to hit a high, dipping shot which flew into the net past a startled Peter Latchford. It was a magnificent effort but the goal was disallowed for offside against another Morton player in the days before the interfering with play rule had come in. Even the Jungle booed that decision.

Some of the goals Ritchie scored for Morton in that period are well remembered. My brother in law is a Morton fan and waxes lyrical over several of them, perhaps the best being a free kick against Dundee United against the ex England World Cup goalkeeper Peter ‘The Cat’ Bonetti. Ritchie took a free kick and bent in a glorious shot that a Brazilian would have been proud of. Bonetti never moved.

In 1983 it was said that new Celtic manager Davie Hay was keen to bring Andy back to Celtic but nothing ever materialised and by 1984 Andy’s career was all but over at the age of 28.

It’s a major regret to this day that Celtic couldn’t have worked things out with Andy because he was an awesome talent. It’s no exaggeration to say he could have been another Bobby Murdoch and although he lacked Bobby’s drive and determination he was a glorious passer of the ball, particularly his long passing.

Andy Ritchie’s departure from Celtic can rightly be regarded as another part of that 1970’s curse. Perhaps Chick Young described him best:

“The epitome of the Scottish footballer – a fat, lazy b******, but with great ball skill”.

Andy has a book out just now which catalogues his life in full. Good luck with the book big man.
Last Updated on Monday, 10 December 2012 21:22

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The secrets to scouting from the former Celtic talent spotter who brought the Three Amigos to Parkhead

Andy Ritchie brought the likes of Pierre van Hooijdonk, Mark Viduka and Paul Lambert to Celtic in the 90s.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/secrets-scouting-former-celtic-talent-13231574
ByDarren Cooney

21:32, 19 SEP 2018

Cadete celebrates his hat-trick against Kilmarnock in 1997 with di Canio and van Hooijdonk (Image: Daily Record)

Top European clubs can now have 50 scouts on their wage bill. Back in the mid 90s, Celtic had just one.

Thankfully for Fergus McCann, one was all they needed.

As current recruitment chief Lee Congerton faces questions over his role at the club, Andy Ritchie can rest safe in the knowledge he was responsible for scouting some of the finest players to have ever graced the Hoops.

The list is long. Pierre van Hooijdonk, Jorge Cadete, Paolo di Canio, Andreas Thom, Mark Viduka, Paul Lambert, Craig Burley and Johan Mjallby; just some of the talents spotted by the former forward.

In a role that has altered radically over the past few years, its rudiments remain the same.

While there is an appliance to science involved in scouting, data is a driver and numbers are king, one fundamental stays key. Can he kick a ball? It was a question to which Ritchie readily found an answer.

But for all his acumen at spotting a player’s talent, the Morton legend needed luck. Like a note from Bobby Robson. Like the good grace of Lambert’s word when in the face of an approach from Rangers, and the demands of Jock Brown, a promise was kept.

“The fundamentals to scouting are the same now as when I was doing it for Celtic. What’s different is there are far more of them at clubs,” the 62-year-old explains.

“When I was at Celtic at first there was just Davie Hay and myself and a headmaster of a boys’ school in Liverpool who did stuff for us in the north west of England. The scouting department was horrendously underfunded.

“I watched a lot and lot of football, looked at an awful lot of players on video and did a hell of a lot of travelling. In the first year I was never out of a car or off a plane.

“When Davie left it was just me against the world and I used to complain about it continually.”

Ritchie soon became chief scout for the club, working under Tommy Burns, Jo Venglos and then Wim Jansen.

It was under Jansen he procured the talents of European Cup winner Lambert, a transfer that was first put in motion during the Burns regime.

But it was a deal that may never have happened.

Ritchie goes back to that time in 1997: “Paul was playing at the top of the game. I was working on a deal to bring him back to Scotland months before he won the Champions League with Dortmund.

“I had known Paul since my days at St Mirren. So prior to Tommy being sacked he had asked me to speak to Paul. We needed a holding midfield player as we kept losing goals to Rangers through the middle. So I contacted him and spoke to his wife Monica as well. They wanted to come home.

“Tommy and me were in the sauna on a Friday night and I told him Paul had been on the phone and wanted to come to Celtic. Tommy turned to me and said, ‘You’re going to have to do it with someone else, Andy, because I’ll not be here’. Two weeks later, he was sacked. But Tommy’s replacement Wim wanted Paul as well.

“I knew the player had a clause in his contract that he could go for five million deutsche marks, or around £1.2m. The deal was on, but then came a problem. Jock had told Wim he had to see a player himself three times if he cost more than £1m. But Wim said, ‘Why do we have Andy here?’ Right in that Celtic turmoil, Rangers made a better offer.

“But Paul had shaken hands with me. That’s the mark of the man.”
Lambert is unveiled by Brown but it’s a deal that could have been scuppered by Rangers (Image: SNS Group 0141 221 3602)

While the story of how Lambert came to Celtic has remained largely unknown, the Three Amigos’ arrival was front and back page news. But what was less heard of was one of the triumvirate could have been John Carew, and not van Hooijdonk. It also led to the signature of the player known as “Dolph”.

Ritchie picks up the story. “Every Friday before going to games the next day I would sit with Tommy watching videos,” he explains.”One day Tommy shouted to me, ‘Come see this’. He was watching a player called Ernie Hunt, an American at NAC Breda. Tommy then went to warm the kettle up. While he was away, I noticed another video about a player whose name I couldn’t pronounce. I stuck it on.

Whatever happened to Tony Mowbray’s Celtic signings?

“Tommy came back and I told him to sit down because there was something I wanted to show him. It was van Hooijdonk who was scoring all kinds of goals.

“I know Kevin Keegan had written in his autobiography it was the most impressive video from an agent he had ever seen. I remember thinking the same. He had 27 goals for Breda and we couldn’t understand why none of the big clubs from Holland had signed him.

“I went out to watch Pierre with that in my mind. I thought there had to be something wrong with his game. There wasn’t. He did what it said on the tin.

“I could have signed Carew instead, though. He played with Valerenga and went on to star for Valencia. But I was more delighted to have got Pierre.

“I went to watch Carew at the Scandinavian Masters in Marbella during the winter.

“But we did get another player from that tournament. You were allowed to go into the dressing room after those games and an agent, Kanut Christiansen, took me into see Mjallby. Johan was playing for AIK Stockholm but he knew all about Celtic from Henrik Larsson.
Chris Sutton celebrates with team-mates after scoring Celtic’s fourth.
Mjallby in the Hoops in 2001 (Image: Reuters)

“Now, Johan was coming out of contract so I told him we’d be very interested in taking him to Scotland.

“The problem came when the big guy scored the f****** winer for Sweden against England. Suddenly everybody’s interested. But he had promised me he would come to Celtic and, luckily like Paul, he was true to his word.”

Other top players arrived at Celtic, although not of Ritchie’s doing. Larsson was one, and a certain Lubomir Morvacik another. “I must admit I had never heard of Lubo, far less seeing him play,” concedes Ritchie.

“It’s not like now with the Internet or the fact you can watch about every game from anywhere in your world on the TV.

“Dr Jo didn’t get me to watch him. He knew exactly how good he was.

“The first time I saw Lubo was at Barrowfield the morning after he had signed. Ten minutes of watching him was enough. I brought Lambert back from Barrowfield to the stadium and he turned to me and said, ‘How the f*** did we get him?’

“I don’t know if a club such as Celtic would be able to sign a player like Lubo again given the information that is about. My granddaughter says to me, ‘Papa, you don’t need to know anything know. You just Google it’.”
Mark Viduka lost the plot that night
Viduka was a huge talent

Now what of Viduka, the immensely talented Aussie with the Croatian name? Ritchie said: “He was brought to my attention by an agent named Tommy Langley, who had played for Chelsea. Tommy asked if I knew of Viduka. I said I had because I would always look through the leagues all over Europe and see who were the top scorers. Marko as he was then was right in the goals for Croatia Zagreb

“Tommy said he was representing him and because we were looking for someone to play upfront with Henrik, I simply had to watch him.

“There were a lot of good players from that region. But war was coming, we had to get the deal over the line ASAP.

“Borussia Dortmund were in for Mark as well, although they told me he lacked a yard of pace. Fair assessment but I just thought, ‘I can live with that’.”

Thierry Henry started as a winger before Arsene Wenger turned him into a striker while Lambert began as an attacking midfielder before Dortmund coach Ottmar Hitzfeld transformed him into a holding player. But did Ritchie ever do similar?

“The only one that would fall into this category would be Craig Burley. Craig Brown used Burley as a right-back for Scotland but at the risk of upsetting wee Brown, I didn’t fancy him in that position. He played as a right midfielder for Chelsea and scored a lot of goals from there. Craig was great for Celtic, a terrific box-to-box player.”

Luck, Ritchie concedes, will always play a big part in football. Even transfers. “Cadette was given to me by Bobby Robson. Celtic were playing Barcelona in Glasgow and after the game I introduced myself to Bobby. The conversation always goes on to ‘have you seen any good players’. I said, ‘Yeah, that Ivan de la Pena if you want to send him to us for a year’. So we were talking away and I tell Bobby we were looking for a striker.

“Then Tommy and others came in and they all got together. On going out the door, Bobby came over with a bit of paper and thrust it into my hand. I opened it up and it just said, ‘Jorge Cadette, Sporting Lisbon. £500,000.”

There’s always one that gets away though. “At Aston Villa I went to Bordeaux to watch Nisa Saveljic only to see someone who took my breath away. The guy was called Johan Micoud, who was understudy to Zinedine Zidane.

“He could never get in the France side unless Zidane had a cold or something. Now Micoud was a top, top player and I wanted to bring him to Villa. I had the deal done but the chairman, Doug Ellis, decided he didn’t want to give Gregory the £10million to sign him. It ended their relationship and Micoud signed for Parma.”

In the 1990s, not many slipped through Celtic’s net. Ritchie saw to that.

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Morton legend Andy Ritchie is celebrating 40 years since he was crowned the best player in Scotland

By Russell Steele @greenocktele News Editor
https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/17631547.morton-legend-andy-ritchie-is-celebrating-40-years-since-he-was-crowned-the-best-player-in-scotland/

MORTON legend Andy Ritchie is celebrating 40 years since he was famously crowned the best player in Scotland.

Four decades on from becoming the only part-time professional to win the coveted Scottish Football Writers’ Association award in 1979, Ritchie will mark the anniversary at an event in the Beacon Arts Centre on Friday with Greenock broadcaster Gerry McDade.

The Cappielow great remembers the presentation night well – because he was laying tar just hours before the black tie dinner.

He told the Tele: “I was part-time, so I had to work right through the summer.

“As I normally did at that time, I had a part-time job laying tar on the road – a friend of mins had a company.

“It was to keep myself going through the summer.

“The close season at that time for football was about 12 weeks and with part-time football you’re part-time wages and there were no bonuses or anything like that, so your other job became paramount at that time.

“A Sunday shift then qualified for double time so you didn’t knock that back with a summer holiday coming up and kids to take away on holiday.

“We were all part-time so everybody had to do it.

“Bobby Houston and Johnny Marr, who were at Partick Thistle at the time, were getting taxis into the awards and making a night of it and I was working on the road when they drew up in the taxi at the traffic lights!

“We had the lights set up for stop and go and there was my good self on the road at that time.

“They couldn’t believe it, footballer of the year and still out working on the Sunday.

“Working with tar on the road you don’t keep yourself nice and clean, it’s not a collar and tie job.

“They gave me a bit of stick and told me to have a right good wash before I turned up that night.

“They two came down and joined me at Cappielow after it, they left Thistle and came to Morton and never let me forget what happened.”

Ritchie was honoured for his extraordinary goalscoring exploits in Greenock, which earned him the name, ‘The King of Cappielow’.

He is sure his feat as the only part-timer to win the football writers’ award is unlikely to be repeated.

Ritchie said: “You can never say never but I doubt it very much.

“I don’t see many part-time teams getting to the Premier League now.

“It would take something a bit special to do that now.”

During the Q&A Ritchie will be interviewed by McDade about his famous award win and share other entertaining stories from his career.

It will be his first time back at the waterfront theatre since making his acting debut, inset, two years ago with a cameo in hit show ‘Mon Eh Ton!’.

He said: “I’ll no’ need to put any make-up on for this one!

“The Beacon’s such a nice place and that night I was very impressed with it.

“I’m really looking forward to it.”

‘The King of Cappielow: An Evening with Andy Ritchie’ is on at the Beacon on Friday at 7.30pm.

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