FOOTBALL: RITCHIE OUT AFTER 71 DAYS.
PAUL RITCHIE looks to be on his way out of Ibrox without even having played a competitive game for Rangers.The defender is expected to sign for Manchester City for pounds 1million in time to play in their Premiership opener at Charlton on Saturday.
The move is the latest twist in a bizarre tale which has taken the unfortunate central defender from Hearts to Bolton and then Rangers, who had pursued him relentlessly for more than a year. Now, though, it seems his dream of playing for the Ibrox club has developed into a nightmare after only 71 days.
Sources at Maine Road say they are determined to conclude a deal which they believe would bolster their return to England's top flight and insist
they are confident of convincing Ritchie he should return south and try to resurrect his career there.
The former Hearts star has become surplus to requirements with Rangers because one of the players he had been brought in to replace refused to go.
Rangers tried to move Lorenzo Amoruso on to Sunderland and accepted their bid of pounds 4.5million but the deal collapsed when Amoruso said he wanted to stay at Ibrox and show he could still do a job.
And so far he is proving his point, regaining his place at the heart of defence alongside Bert Konterman.
He has also held on to the captain's armband making it clear to Ritchie that he would have to wait a while to get a chance.
Also, Rangers have Craig Moore, who is recovering from injury, Tero Penttila and Scott Wilson, a player already known to manager Dick Advocaat whereas Ritchie isn't, on their books.
Ironically Rangers had pursued Ritchie for a year before he eventually signed on June 6, just in time to go on close-season tour. He didn't play a full game on the road but scored an own goal in his first match and gave away a penalty in his second.
Advocaat had tried to get Ritchie from Hearts last year but they rejected a pounds 900,000 offer even though he was in the final year of his contract. In the end the Tynecastle club sent him on loan to Bolton and then, when the loan period was up, took a paltry fee of pounds 50,000 to let him stay on until the end of the season.
Rangers simply waited their time and when his contract expired stepped in and took him free of charge under the Bosman ruling.
Ritchie, who will be 25 on Monday, couldn't wait to get started but he has been denied a chance to shine and would probably be better off starting again with Manchester City.
At least he would be protecting his international career because if he continues to languish in the Ibrox shadows he will find himself being overlooked again, but this time by Scotland manager Craig Brown who will announce his first World Cup qualifying squad next week.
Meanwhile, Rangers' hopes of bringing Brian Laudrup back to Ibrox suffered a set-back last night when the former fans' hero landed a new job with the Danish FA.
Laudrup, who quit playing in May because of injury, is to help revolutionise kids' football in his homeland.
Ibrox chairman David Murray recently admitted that he would love to see the 31-year-old return to Glasgow.
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| Title Annotation: | Sport |
|---|---|
| Author: | Traynor, James |
| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
| Date: | Aug 16, 2000 |
| Words: | 558 |
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