Paul Ritchie

[Prince Buaben]

With all the 98 stuff over the last few days and Social media bored off it its tits with greatest who is your greatest Hearts XI etc. I was wondering how good was he? 

 

I was 11 when he left to Rangers via Lancashire and dont really remember him too well. Kind of remember a storm about him leaving. At that age i was all about attacking players.

 

 

[TurboT]

Ritchie was a great player and looked destined for big things, he played in the Scotland v England game in 1999 and was a regular in the International Team.  After leaving us under a cloud his career nosedived and he never looked like the same player again.

[busby1985]

Did he not score an own goal or something daft like that in a pre season friendly for Rangers and then basically never feature after that? 

Edited April 6, 2020 by busby1985

[East Lothian Jambo]

More of a stopper central defender. Distribution was poor, much like Berra 

 

Desperate to get to Rangers much like Andy Webster.  Made two appearances for Rangers between pair of them and Webster made them both 

 

CPR was running Hearts on an operating loss basis where his strategy was to plug such losses via a player sale. Did it with McCann,  Cameron and Naysmith.  Got fingers burnt with Ritchie on that strategy 

 

I remember Ritchie playing for Scotland against Wales in Cardiff. Robert Earnshaw had him chasing around like a pub player. Quite possibly his last appearance for Scotland 

 

Scottish Cup winner and played superbly on the day 

[Ainsley Harriott]

Him and Davie Weir were immense together. I would say maybe even a better pairing than Webster and Pressley.

[Rick Sanchez]

I was today years old when I learned Ritchie never had an appearance for Rangers.

[Fozzyonthefence]

He was a good player by SPL standards but nowhere near as good as Levein, McPherson, McLaren, Weir, Presley, Webster, Berra, Bruno. We’ve really been blessed with good CHs the last 20 years or so, just a pity we’ve always struggled at the other end since Robbo.

[Debut 4]

Really liked Ritchie. In the mould of a no nonsense CH and it shouldn’t be under appreciated the talent to tackle, win headers and have good positional sense even if you lack on other traits. 
 

Esp when you look at some of our defending these days.   

[Marvin]

1 hour ago, TurboT said:

Ritchie was a great player and looked destined for big things, he played in the Scotland v England game in 1999 and was a regular in the International Team.  After leaving us under a cloud his career nosedived and he never looked like the same player again.

 

Formed an impregnable defensive partnership with Davie Weir. 

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

Could be rash but played without fear and beyond his years 

[Norm]

Liked him. Liked him a lot. Then he became a Judas prick. Decent defender though. 

[husref musemic]

did he not appear in an interview for a rangers magazine a week or two before he left ?

[HillmanHearts]

Decent defender. Tenacious and quick. Not brilliant with the ball..

Great partnership with Davie Weir who called the shots.

Had an overinflated opinion of himself.

Shafted us. 

[Beave1874]

Glenrothes laddie like myself. Never wanted a player to succeed more.
 

Hated him after he did an interview for a Rangers magazine whilst still a Hearts player, from memory think the article stated he could not wait to join the minks. We got the square root of f all and the scum £500,000 after a few months. 
 

Time a healer and I believe he is a Hearts man, going to games when he can. 

 

I forgive him now but still sticks in my throat. 

[Beast Boy]

2 hours ago, Prince Buaben said:

With all the 98 stuff over the last few days and Social media bored off it its tits with greatest who is your greatest Hearts XI etc. I was wondering how good was he? 

 

I was 11 when he left to Rangers via Lancashire and dont really remember him too well. Kind of remember a storm about him leaving. At that age i was all about attacking players.

 

 

Ritchie was a really good player. Try and find some footage of him playing for Scotland v England. Long time ago now, but he was up against a young David Beckham at times, and did a brilliant job.

 

 

[Smoked-Glass]

1 hour ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

He was a good player by SPL standards but nowhere near as good as Levein, McPherson, McLaren, Weir, Presley, Webster, Berra, Bruno. We’ve really been blessed with good CHs the last 20 years or so, just a pity we’ve always struggled at the other end since Robbo.

De vries was good for bout 2 years 

[GavK1012]

Great player for us and is a Jambo which made his behaviour towards Sevco rather bizarre and left a sour taste tbf...

[neilnunb]

He was daft doing the Rangers interview but he was ill advised by his agent at the time.

 

He was and still is a Hearts supporter though. Think he lives in the States now.

[Meadows]

Nicknamed Bozzer by the squad at the time 

[Beast Boy]

5 minutes ago, Meadows said:

Nicknamed Bozzer by the squad at the time 

 

On a par with “Dissa”. 😄

[Smoked-Glass]

Remember he was in tears after the 1996 5-1 defeat by rangers 

[East Lothian Jambo]

5 minutes ago, Smoked-Glass said:

Remember he was in tears after the 1996 5-1 defeat by rangers 

Weren't we all 

[John Findlay]

Played  a few times for Harry Redknapp at Portmouth, when Paul Merson was the main man there.

[stirlo]

3 hours ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

He was a good player by SPL standards but nowhere near as good as Levein, McPherson, McLaren, Weir, Presley, Webster, Berra, Bruno. We’ve really been blessed with good CHs the last 20 years or so, just a pity we’ve always struggled at the other end since Robbo.

Personally in terms of sheer ability I'd have him above all of those except Levein, McLaren and Webster. Alan McLaren is one that's easy to forget because his career ended so early - but he was a top class defender. Just such a shame about his injury because he'd definitely have gone on to play at a very high level. Still remember the night he man-marked Roberto Baggio out the game in a 0-0 draw at Ibrox for Scotland. 

[Madjambo21]

3 hours ago, Prince Buaben said:

With all the 98 stuff over the last few days and Social media bored off it its tits with greatest who is your greatest Hearts XI etc. I was wondering how good was he? 

 

I was 11 when he left to Rangers via Lancashire and dont really remember him too well. Kind of remember a storm about him leaving. At that age i was all about attacking players.

 

 

He was a cracking defender for us but it was Weir that made him look better like weir does with every defender he plays with.

[iantjambo]

A really good defender for us. But yet another who got his head turned by the scum in the west and his career. He was never the same after that.

[Last Laff]

First person I ever copied his haircut randomly when I was about 11. Great player who didn’t fulfil his potential. 

[Locky]

1 hour ago, neilnunb said:

He was daft doing the Rangers interview but he was ill advised by his agent at the time.

 

He was and still is a Hearts supporter though. Think he lives in the States now.

He's quite active on Twitter and stays in LA I think. Sure he's part of the coaching set up at LA Galaxy.

 

Too young to remember much about him or his departure, but he definitely loves the club. Can only assume he was just naive and wanted the big money move to Rangers. Can't blame him in some ways.

[Hearts_fan]

2 hours ago, Smoked-Glass said:

De vries was good for bout 2 years 

 

Velicka was good too.

[Morgan]

2 hours ago, Meadows said:

Nicknamed Bozzer by the squad at the time 

 

Also known as Mabozza.

 

2 hours ago, Special Officer Doofy said:

 

On a par with “Dissa”. 😄

 

Poor Neil!

[johnthomas]

1 hour ago, Madjambo21 said:

He was a cracking defender for us but it was Weir that made him look better like weir does with every defender he plays with.

Good player but , yes , think he always needed a mentor alongside .

Can't quite remember the rangers thing but thought it had been a done deal long before he left ?

Not necessarily the players fault . No idea why rangers signed him as Dick , obviously , didn't fancy him

[Madjambo21]

18 minutes ago, johnthomas said:

Good player but , yes , think he always needed a mentor alongside .

Can't quite remember the rangers thing but thought it had been a done deal long before he left ?

Not necessarily the players fault . No idea why rangers signed him as Dick , obviously , didn't fancy him

Totally agree.

Weir made Wilson at Rangers look that good liverpool signed him.

 

[alanjambo]

2 hours ago, stirlo said:

Personally in terms of sheer ability I'd have him above all of those except Levein, McLaren and Webster. Alan McLaren is one that's easy to forget because his career ended so early - but he was a top class defender. Just such a shame about his injury because he'd definitely have gone on to play at a very high level. Still remember the night he man-marked Roberto Baggio out the game in a 0-0 draw at Ibrox for Scotland. 

 

Alan McLaren could have been world class, a real shame about his injuries.  Same goes for Levein.

[Drumjambo]

Paul Ritchie was a decent no nosense defender who learned loads from bruno and weir Decent tackler and had a good defensive idea re positioning - unfortunately the arse that was Chris Robinson turned down 900k for him and like weir walked for next to nothing as Robinson hadn't grabbed the basics about bosman.

 

Paul a classic tail of careful what you wish for and should be held up as an example of how not to leave a club that you are doing reasonably well at.

 

His career went absolutely nowhere after leaving us that's for sure

[soonbe110]

Coaching in SAN Diego last I heard. That was 2018 at the 20 year cup celebration. 

[East Lothian Jambo]

15 minutes ago, Drumjambo said:

Paul Ritchie was a decent no nosense defender who learned loads from bruno and weir Decent tackler and had a good defensive idea re positioning - unfortunately the arse that was Chris Robinson turned down 900k for him and like weir walked for next to nothing as Robinson hadn't grabbed the basics about bosman.

 

Paul a classic tail of careful what you wish for and should be held up as an example of how not to leave a club that you are doing reasonably well at.

 

His career went absolutely nowhere after leaving us that's for sure

Quite a few have suffered a similar fate after leaving us in the view they could achieve more 

[Pasquale for King]

Great player but like quite a few others lost their way by going through there, should’ve had a better career than he did like Webster/Johnston/Templeton/McLaren/Holt off the top of my head.

[Guest ToqueJambo]

One of many young players ruined by Rangers turning their head and unsettling them, then discarding him. He never even played a single game for them and they got 500 grand while we got nothing.

[Diadora Van Basten]

4 hours ago, stirlo said:

Personally in terms of sheer ability I'd have him above all of those except Levein, McLaren and Webster. Alan McLaren is one that's easy to forget because his career ended so early - but he was a top class defender. Just such a shame about his injury because he'd definitely have gone on to play at a very high level. Still remember the night he man-marked Roberto Baggio out the game in a 0-0 draw at Ibrox for Scotland. 

Probably one of the best performances I have seen by a Scottish player.

[1971fozzy]

6 hours ago, Sir Gio said:

Could be rash but played without fear and beyond his years 

In  a nutshell

[GinRummy]

4 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

Coaching in SAN Diego last I heard. That was 2018 at the 20 year cup celebration. 

Had the pleasure of meeting his old man, Dave, on a cruise last September. Still in the states at that point. 

[Fozzyonthefence]

9 hours ago, Beave1874 said:

Glenrothes laddie like myself. Never wanted a player to succeed more.
 

Hated him after he did an interview for a Rangers magazine whilst still a Hearts player, from memory think the article stated he could not wait to join the minks. We got the square root of f all and the scum £500,000 after a few months. 
 

Time a healer and I believe he is a Hearts man, going to games when he can. 

 

I forgive him now but still sticks in my throat. 

He definitely is.  He is or was working in the USA.  Seen him on the Dunfermline Hearts bus a couple times when back over visiting his kids.

[maroondevo52]

Superb defender.

[benny]

Might well be wrong but did we not turn down 800,000 for him with less than a year on his contract.

Left for nothing due to the new Bosman rule.

[Glamorgan Jambo]

Remember a couple of years ago on a long Christmas Day at the in laws Paul (on Twitter) gave an honest and spirited explanation of what happened around his interview in Rangers News and his transfer.

 

He admitted making mistakes which is fine by me.

 

Definitely a PHM these days.

[Beast Boy]

8 hours ago, Glamorgan Jambo said:

Remember a couple of years ago on a long Christmas Day at the in laws Paul (on Twitter) gave an honest and spirited explanation of what happened around his interview in Rangers News and his transfer.

 

He admitted making mistakes which is fine by me.

 

Definitely a PHM these days.

He’s also given interviews when players have been on the cusp of making the same mistake as he did, urging them to think carefully before they leave.

 

I don’t think it was the case with Paul, but some players who have tried to engineer a move since I think, mistakenly believe that the entire Hearts support will understand and forgive them if they leave us for the Huns, even if they go about it in a disrespectful manner. Too many local lads think the majority of Hearts supporters are like the teenage fans in our number who sing sectarian songs and bring their Rangers supporting mates to games with them. 
 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Special Officer Doofy

[Deodato]

On 06/04/2020 at 13:46, stirlo said:

 Still remember the night he man-marked Roberto Baggio out the game in a 0-0 draw at Ibrox for Scotland. 

 

Has anyone got any footage (or memories) of this one? I recall my brother TopCat watching the game and saying that it was a revelation - watching a Hearts defender literally go toe-for-toe with the worlds best (when he was truly at his best)  and standing tall. Must have been a proud moment.  

[tcjambo]

On 06/04/2020 at 16:15, Drumjambo said:

Paul Ritchie was a decent no nosense defender who learned loads from bruno and weir Decent tackler and had a good defensive idea re positioning - unfortunately the arse that was Chris Robinson turned down 900k for him and like weir walked for next to nothing as Robinson hadn't grabbed the basics about bosman.

 

Paul a classic tail of careful what you wish for and should be held up as an example of how not to leave a club that you are doing reasonably well at.

 

His career went absolutely nowhere after leaving us that's for sure

At one time Alan McManus also looked like he might go on to a good career as well

[Pasquale for King]

2 hours ago, tcjambo said:

At one time Alan McManus also looked like he might go on to a good career as well

Shows how players careers can go in different directions, he and Ritchie either side of Bruno learning from the master was great to watch from our seats in the school end. I remember McManus talking about beating Rangers at Ibrox, being 3 nil up and getting dogs abuse, looking at his good pal Ritchie and just bursting into laughter at what was happening. 

[StevenNaismith]

A proper no nonsense defender, kicked everything that moved. Was badly advised at the time by his agent and his career never went where it really should have.