Ritchie Andy (English footballer)

A native of Manchester , Andy Ritchie played for the England school football team (scoring three goals against the German school team in one match) and the Manchester United Youth Academy , signing his first amateur contract in October 1975. In September 1977, he signed his first professional contract, and on December 26, 1977 he made his debut in the main team of Manchester United in the match against Everton . In total, in the 1977/78 season he played 4 matches ^[2] .

On December 9, 1978, for the first time since January, he returned to the main squad (due to Joe Jordan's injury), making a “double” at the Derby County goal ^{[1] [3]} , and on March 24, 1979 he made a hat-trick at the goal Leeds United ^[4] . In general, in the 1978/79 season, he scored 10 goals in 17 championship matches. In the 1979/80 season, he stopped playing for United, playing only 8 matches in the championship, and scored in only one match - against Tottenham Hotspur on April 12, 1980, and he made a hat-trick in that game ^{[5 ]} . In total, he spent 42 matches for United and scored 13 goals ^[6] .

After joining Harry Burts in United in October 1980, Andy Ritchie was sold at Brighton and Hove Albion for £ 500,000 . ^[1] He made his debut for Albion on October 22, 1980 in a match against the Birmingham club Aston Villa . He played for the club for three seasons, playing 102 matches and scoring 26 goals (of which 89 matches and 23 goals in the championship) ^[7] .

In March 1983 he moved from Brighton to Leeds United , and Terry Connor set off in the opposite direction. In 1984, Ritchie made two “hat-tricks” at the gate of “Oldham Athletic” and “Wimbledon” on September 29 and December 1, respectively ^[8] . In the 1986/87 season, he helped Leeds reach the FA Cup semi-finals. He began to play in the team as a striker, but in 1985, after joining Leeds and new head coach Billy Bremner , Ritchie began to play in the midfield, mainly in the position of the right winger. By 1987, after long unsuccessful negotiations to renew the contract, Ritchie left Leeds, after which he was sold at Oldham Athletic for £ 50,000. In total, he played 159 matches for Leeds United and scored 44 goals ^[9] .

In 1987 he became a player in the Oldham Athletic Club, where he spent the next eight years. In 1990, he helped the team reach the of the Football League Cup , in which Latex lost to Nottingham with a minimum score. In the same year, Oldham reached the semifinals of the FA Cup , in which they lost to Manchester United in the replay (Ritchie scored for his former club, but United pulled out a victory in extra time). The following year, Oldham Athletic won the championship title of the Second Division , securing access to the top division, where the team spent the next three seasons (and in 1992 became one of the founding teams of the Premier League ). In 1994, “Oldham” entered the semifinals of the FA Cup for the second time in four years, where he again met with Manchester United and lost again in the replay ^[10] .

In 1995, he left Oldham, becoming a player in the Scarborough Club. He spent two seasons at the club, playing 76 matches and scoring 20 goals. In 1997, he returned to Oldham Athletic, where he spent two more seasons as a player. In total, he played 282 matches for Oldham and scored 107 goals.

In the 1998/99 season, he entered the field for the last time as a player, already being a playing coach at Oldham Athletic.

Oldham fans dedicated the song Andy Ritchie's Magic ^{[11] [12] to him} .

After Graham Sharpe was fired , Andy Ritchie returned to Oldham Athletic in March 1997, first becoming Neil Warnock 's assistant, and after leaving the club in 1998, he became head coach (in fact, he was a playing coach in the 1998/99 season). He spent three full seasons at the club, but after the unsuccessful start of the 2001/02 season he was fired from his post as head coach of Oldham on October 31, 2001 ^[13] .

Later he worked as the head coach of the youth academy, first at Leeds United , and then at Barnsley. In 2004, he became an assistant to Barnsley head coach Paul Hart . After the dismissal of Hart in March 2005, Ritchie became the acting head coach, and in May - the club’s head coach ^[14] . In 2005, Barnsley, under his leadership, became the winner of the Football League 1 playoffs, defeating Penalty City in the final. After that, Barnsley entered the Championship .

In October 2006, after the dismissal of Paul Starrock , Sheffield Wensday contacted Ritchie about the vacancy of the head coach. But Barnsley, with whom Ritchie had a valid contract, refused to consider the Wensday request ^[15] . However, a month later, on November 21, 2006, Barnsley fired Ritchie. By that time, Barnsley was in the elimination zone from the Championship ^[16] .

April 11, 2007 was appointed head coach of the Huddersfield Town Club ^[17] . A year later, on April 1, 2008, he left the club “by agreement of the parties” shortly after losing to his former club Oldham Athletic with a score of 4: 1 ^[18] . In the 2007/08 season, he won 22 victories with the club, suffered 24 defeats and tied 5 times. That season was remembered for the fact that Huddersfield reached the 5th round in the FA Cup (having beaten Birmingham City and dropped out of the rally only after losing to the Chelsea Premier League club), which was the team's best result in 10 years.

Later he worked as a visiting expert, presenter and commentator on BBC Radio Leeds ^[19] and MUTV channel ( Manchester United club channel) ^[20] .

Barnsley

• Winner of the playoffs of the Football League 1 : 2005/06

• Profile at MUFCInfo.com
• Player and on soccerbase.com
• League stats for Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database
• Coaching statistics
• Andy Ritchie on Twitter