Ritchie: Andrew Timothy (Andy)

1983-1987 (Player Details)

Forward

Born: Manchester: 28-11-1960

Debut: Crystal Palace (h): 26-03-1983

5’9 1/2” 11st 11lb (1984)

#75 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

Ritchie attended Moseley Grammar School, played for Manchester and Stockport Boys and won eight England Schoolboy caps under skipper Brendan Ormsby. Ritchie played for Whiteside in Sunday League soccer, joined Manchester United as a youngster and turned professional on 5th December 1977. Gaining England Youth honours, he looked to have a big future at Old Trafford and Leeds had good cause to remember him after he scored a hat-trick against them for Manchester United in March 1979, but he was sold to Brighton and Hove Albion for £500,000 on 17th October 1980. While at Old Trafford he scored thirteen goals in thirty-three League games of which seven were as a substitute. He won an England Under-Twenty-one cap against Poland a couple of years later, and then a swap deal for Terry Connor, valued at £150,000, in March 1983 took him to Leeds, At Brighton he scored twenty-three League goals in eighty-nine appearances, including seven as a substitute. He was an hard-working, skilful player rather than an instinctive goalscorer, although he netted six goals in a Central League game at Blundell Park in September 1984. Much of his time at Leeds was spent in dispute over his contract and for over a year he was on a weekly contract before moving to Oldham Athletic for £50,000 in August 1987. He proved a bargain buy, scoring eighty-two goals in two hundred and seventeen League games, which included thirty as a substitute for the Latics and helping them reach the League Cup Final and the FA Cup Semi-Final in 1990 and win the old Second Division in 1991. Then, after struggling with injuries, he joined Scarborough as player coach on 3rd August 1995 on a free transfer. He netted seventeen goals in the League from fifty-nine starts and nine from the bench. He returned to Oldham on 21st February 1997 after Neil Warnock had brought him back as his player/ assistant and he played spasmodically scoring twice from twenty-five League games of which eleven were from the bench, taking over as Manager when Warnock was sacked in 1998 before receiving the sack himself in 2001, not having played a League game for two seasons, but actually taking to the field at the age of forty in the LDV Final of 2001. He was out of work for three months before securing a position as the Leeds United Academy Director under Brian Kidd. When Peter Reid became Leeds Manager in 2003 Ritchie again lost his job. Six months later he joined Barnsley as Academy Manager and eventually became first team coach with Paul Hart as Manager. Hart left Barnsley in the Spring of 2005 and Andy became Caretaker Manager, a position that became permanent in May 2005. In the 2005/06 season, he led the club to the League One play-off final against Swansea City. The match was played on 27th May 2006 at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. Barnsley's victory on penalties, following a 2-2 draw, secured promotion to the CCCL. Ritchie was approached by Sheffield Wednesday about their vacant manager's position, following the sacking of Paul Sturrock in October 2006. However, the request was turned down by Barnsley. Ritchie was sacked by Barnsley on 21st November 2006, with the team in the relegation zone of the CCCL. Ritchie was appointed Huddersfield Town manager on 11th May 2007. He left the club by mutual consent on 1st April 2008 after an indifferent season, following the embarrassing 4-1 defeat at Oldham Athletic on 29th March 2008. Ritchie's overall record in the League with the Terriers was just winning twenty-two, losing twenty-four and drawing five out of fifty-one games played. The highlight was undoubtedly the FA Cup run which saw Town win against Birmingham City and before bowing out to EPL highfliers Chelsea in the Fifth Round, the first time the club had been that far for ten years.