Paul Simon Ritchie (born 21 August 1975) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former professional player. Ritchie started his playing career with Heart of Midlothian (Hearts), making 133 league appearances for the club and helping it win the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. He played for several clubs after leaving Hearts during the 1999–2000 season. Ritchie made seven appearances for the

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the t ...

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 Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

and for San Diego, the

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-affiliated youth soccer club.

Club career

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

. Persistent speculation linked him with a move to Rangers, particularly with his Hearts contract due to expire in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. The Tynecastle club, however, were unwilling to allow him to move to a rival cheaply, and he spent time with

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

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 Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former football player and coach who is currently the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a coach, including three sti ...

then elected to sell Ritchie to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

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 Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. 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 The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. In August 2003 he left on a free transfer and joined

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

, 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. 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 Colin Lee (born 12 June 1956) is an English football manager and former footballer. He is currently head of football at South Dartmoor Community College in Ashburton, Devon along with Chris Beard. Playing career Lee began his football career ...

. In the summer of 2004 he moved on again, signing a short term contract with Dundee United, which 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 Craig James Brown Brewster (born 13 December 1966) is a Scottish former professional footballer, turned coach. He made his name in a long playing career as a striker for numerous clubs in Scotland, particularly Forfar Athletic, Raith Rovers, Du ...

announced Ritchie was free to leave the club at the end of the season, despite having a year of his contract left to run. 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 Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

as youth coach in summer 2007 but left in November. In 2009, Ritchie signed with

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games a ...

of the

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

in the United States. In June 2009 it was announced that Ritchie had left the club, having made just one first team appearance.

International career

Ritchie represented Scotland seven times. He made his debut in a friendly win against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in April 1999. His next cap against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

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 Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in 2004 following some fine displays for Walsall.

Coaching career

After his playing career ended in 2009, Ritchie returned to Britain to complete his coaching badges and work for the

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

soccer schools. He returned to Carolina RailHawks as assistant coach in 2010 and 2011 under manager Martin Rennie. Rennie moved on to

in November 2011 and brought Ritchie with him as assistant coach for the

club. Ritchie was released in January 2014 after Rennie was sacked. In 2019 he was the youth soccer coach for San Diego, the MLS-affiliated youth soccer club of LA Galaxy.

Career statistics

Honours

Hearts *

References

External links

* *
London Hearts profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Paul Footballers from Kirkcaldy 1975 births Living people Scottish footballers Association football defenders Scotland international footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Scotland B international footballers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players AC Omonia players North Carolina FC players Premier League players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players USL First Division players Cypriot First Division players Scottish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Vancouver Whitecaps FC non-playing staff