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Paul Ritchie (footballer, born 1975)

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Paul Ritchie
Ritchie in 2011
Personal information
Full name Paul Simon Ritchie[1]
Date of birth (1975-08-21) 21 August 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Centre-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–2000 Heart of Midlothian 133 (6)
1999–2000 → Bolton Wanderers (loan) 14 (0)
2000 Rangers 0 (0)
2000–2003 Manchester City 20 (0)
2002 → Portsmouth (loan) 12 (0)
2003 → Derby County (loan) 7 (0)
2003–2004 Walsall 33 (1)
2004–2006 Dundee United 45 (0)
2006–2007 AC Omonia 2 (0)
2009 Carolina RailHawks 1 (0)
Total 267 (7)
International career
1996–1997 Scotland U-21[2] 7 (0)
1999–2004 Scotland 7 (1)
Managerial career
2010–2011 Carolina RailHawks (assistant)
2011–2013 Vancouver Whitecaps FC (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paul Simon Ritchie (born 21 August 1975) is a Scottish football coach and former professional player. A centre-back, he started his playing career with Heart of Midlothian, making 133 league appearances for the club and helping it win the Scottish Cup in 1998. He played for several clubs after leaving Hearts during the 1999–2000 season. Ritchie made seven appearances for the Scotland national team between 1999 and 2004, scoring one goal. Since retiring as a player he has worked as a football coach, as assistant coach with Vancouver Whitecaps FC in Major League Soccer and for San Diego, the LA Galaxy-affiliated youth soccer club.

Club career

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Beginning his career with Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) in 1992, Ritchie quickly gained a reputation as a promising defender, gaining a regular first team place and winning Scotland under-21 caps. The highlight of his time at Hearts was undoubtedly the club's Scottish Cup win in 1998. Persistent speculation linked him with a move to Rangers, particularly with his Hearts contract due to expire in 2000. The Tynecastle club, however, were unwilling to allow him to move to a rival cheaply, and he spent time with Bolton Wanderers on a short term contract and appeared in both the FA Cup and League Cup Semi Finals before finally joining Rangers on a Bosman free transfer in June 2000.

However, Rangers manager Dick Advocaat then elected to sell Ritchie to Manchester City for a fee of £500,000 just two months later, without him ever playing a first team match for the club. Ritchie spent three years with City, but struggled throughout to earn a regular place in their team, spending time out on loan with Portsmouth and Derby County. While at Portsmouth he contributed 12 appearances in the first half of the 2002–03 season, at the end of which they won the First Division Championship and promotion to the Premier League.[3] In August 2003 he left on a free transfer and joined Walsall, where despite suffering relegation he was at least able to play regular first team football again, forcing himself back into the international reckoning with some inspirational performances, scoring once against Rotherham United.[4] However, whilst at Walsall he was caught up in a contract dispute with owner Jeff Bonser, indirectly leading to the dismissal of Saddler's manager Colin Lee.

After leaving Walsall, Ritchie signed a short term contract with Dundee United, despite interest from Kilmarnock, Livingston and Sheffield Utd.[5] His contract was later extended despite injury problems limiting his appearances at first. For a while he was regularly captaining the team, but in April 2006 United manager Craig Brewster announced Ritchie was free to leave the club at the end of the season, despite having a year of his contract left to run.[6] His departure was finally confirmed in August 2006. He then moved to Omonia Nicosia but left at the end of the season because of an injury to his cruciate ligament. Ritchie moved to Dundee as youth coach in summer 2007[7] but left in November.

In 2009, Ritchie signed with Carolina RailHawks of the USL First Division in the United States. In June 2009 it was announced that Ritchie had left the club,[8] having made just one first team appearance.

International career

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Ritchie represented Scotland seven times. He made his debut in a friendly win against Germany in April 1999. His next cap against the Czech Republic saw him score his only international goal. Within a year he had taken his cap total to six, but thereafter a lack of first team football at Manchester City saw him drop out of contention. He won only one more cap, against Wales in 2004 following some fine displays for Walsall.

Coaching career

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After his playing career ended in 2009, Ritchie returned to Britain to complete his coaching badges and work for the Manchester United soccer schools. He returned to Carolina RailHawks as assistant coach in 2010 and 2011 under manager Martin Rennie. Rennie moved on to Vancouver Whitecaps FC in November 2011 and brought Ritchie with him as assistant coach for the Major League Soccer club.[9] Ritchie was released in January 2014[10] after Rennie was sacked.[11]

In 2019 he was the youth soccer coach for San Diego, the MLS-affiliated youth soccer club of LA Galaxy.[12]

Career statistics

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Heart of Midlothian 1995–96 Scottish Premier Division 28 1 5 2 0 0 – 33 3
1996–97 28 3 1 0 4 0 2 0 35 3
1997–98 34 0 5 1 3 0 – 42 1
1998–99 Scottish Premier League 29 1 1 0 2 0 4 0 36 1
1999–2000 14 1 0 0 2 0 – 16 1
Total 133 6 12 3 11 0 6 0 162 9
Bolton Wanderers (loan) 1999–2000 Premier League 14 0 4 0 1 0 – 19 0
Manchester City 2000–01 Premier League 12 0 1 0 3 0 – 16 0
2001–02 Football League First Division 8 0 2 0 1 0 – 11 0
Total 20 0 3 0 4 0 0 0 27 0
Portsmouth 2002–03 Football League First Division 12 0 0 0 1 0 – 13 0
Derby County 2002–03 Football League First Division 7 0 0 0 0 0 – 7 0
Walsall 2003–04 Football League First Division 33 1 1 0 1 0 – 35 1
Dundee United 2004–05 Scottish Premier League 24 0 5 0 2 0 – 31 0
2005–06 21 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 23 0
Total 45 0 5 0 3 0 1 0 54 0
AC Omonia 2006–07 Cypriot First Division 2 0 2 0
Career total 266 7 25 3 21 0 7 0 319 10

Honours

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Hearts

References

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  1. ^ The Bell's Scottish Football Review 2005.06. Cre8 Publishing. 2005. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-9548556-1-1.
  2. ^ "Paul Ritchie". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Games played by Paul Ritchie in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  4. ^ "Walsall 3-2 Rotherham". BBC. 9 May 2004. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  5. ^ "United win Ritchie race". BBC. 7 August 2004.
  6. ^ Tannadice trio told to leave club, BBC Sport, 10 April 2006.
  7. ^ Ritchie appears on Dens radar Archived 30 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, The Courier, 26 June 2007.
  8. ^ "RailHawks release defender Paul Ritchie". Our Sports Central. 11 June 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  9. ^ MacMahon, Martin. "Paul Ritchie named Whitecaps FC assistant coach". Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  10. ^ "Whitecaps FC announce technical staff changes | Vancouver Whitecaps FC". Whitecapsfc.com. 9 January 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  11. ^ "Whitecaps FC part ways with Martin Rennie | Vancouver Whitecaps FC". Whitecapsfc.com. 29 October 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  12. ^ "Paul Ritchie".
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