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John Ritchie |
John Joseph Ritchie was born on Sunday, 8th July, 1979, in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute. The forward signed for Murdo MacLeod's Thistle in 1996, having most recently been with Partick Thistle U-18. Aged 17, he made his only appearance on Saturday, 10th May, 1997, in a 2-0 defeat away to St Mirren in the SFL First Division. There were no goals for John in his one-off appearance for Thistle. His club-list included Partick Thistle, Queen's Park, Dumbarton and Vale of Leven. John died on Wednesday, 13th July, 2022, in Glasgow, aged 43. |
Nicknamed 'Lionel' on account of his surname, John, who played as an attacking midfielder or forward, was a bright young talent, but never quite lived up to his early promise. He came through the Thistle youth system and made his one solitary appearance for the first team as a 17-year-old substitute on the last day of the 96/97 season against St Mirren at Love Street before leaving the club during the course of the following season. It was the same story with all three of his senior clubs, never making the real breakthrough in first-team terms. He featured once for 4th tier Queen's Park in the 1997-98 season, a 2-0 defeat to Dumbarton in front of 528 at Hampden Park. At least he got to play at the national stadium! Dumbarton were his next senior club actually, and he joined them in their new home at The Rock in season 2000-01, making 3 League appearances in the springtime of that season. John moved on to Central League outfit Vale of Leven in October 2001, and appeared in 16 competitive matches during the 2001-02 season, netting 3 goals in the process. He enjoyed a very nice Christmas, having just scored in a 4-0 Scottish Cup win over Maybole and a 4-1 League win over Glencairn, both played at Millburn Park. His early promise was recognised in the book 'Football Manager Stole My Life' (Iain Macintosh, Kenny Millar, Neil White) published in August 2012, which humorously recalled how Partick Thistle's amazing cast of youngsters in the mid 1990s were great additions to the discerning squad-building game-players. Fame at last! Sadly, John's life ended far too soon, just after his 43rd birthday. As one of his friends put it, “alcohol was one opponent he couldn’t beat”. |
(WS/DMAC/TH) |