HE was one of Scottish football’s bright prospects even trusted to mark David Beckham in a crucial international clash despite playing out of position.
Then, by his own admission, he became the answer to a pub quiz question.
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If we’re staying true to fashion, it’s a question that should be posed in the quick-fire round of any football knowledge test.
Simply because that’s what his Rangers career was – over in a flash.
Well, alright, 77 days to be exact.
One minute he’s drafted into a star-studded squad in a highly-disputed domestic deal, the next he’s on his way south to Manchester City, though before the Blues took star-studded squads to their current modern-day extremes.
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Now based in the USA he’s settled with a young daughter and pro-footballer wife who has just announced there’s another baby on the way for the Ritchie family.
He has two Hearts-supporting boys back in Scotland too.
But their old man’s transfer from Tynecastle to Ibrox is still as baffling now as it was then.
Infact, Paul Ritchie describes his two month move as “one of the strangest things ever”.
Speaking in 2019, he said: “It was the weirdest thing, what happened at Rangers.
“I knew within a couple of weeks of pre-season starting, that the manager didn’t really want me. I just thought ‘this isn’t for me – I’m not supposed to be here’.
“Tony Vidmar and Sergio Porrini, both good players, had been told they could leave that summer and would never play for the club again.
“But they still played before me – I was thinking ‘hold on a minute’.
“Of course players fall out of favour at clubs, but it’s usually after you’ve played at least a few games.
“When you know you are not wanted, the way that they treat you, it’s hard. I was still relatively young, so it was a tough time.
“I don’t think Dick Advocaat even knew who I was, to be honest.”
He has a theory though.
Pitching up as a bargain recruit on a free amongst a summer spending spree that included Peter Lovenkrands, Fernando Ricksen and Bert Konterman, Ritchie believes he was a flex of domestic dominance.
Six months earlier he had been marking David Beckham at the peak of his powers as Scotland faced England in the Euro 2000 play-off.
Out of position at left-back, he was still picked to do a job by then boss Craig Brown after a solid start to the season at Hearts.
And Ritchie explained the national trust shown in him may have played a part in his move.
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He added: “Rangers had been bringing in a lot of top-class players from all over the world but I think they wanted to make a statement that they could still sign Scottish talent.
“They had been getting a bit of stick for not signing Scottish players at the time. Myself, Neil McCann, Kenny Miller and Allan Johnston all came over that period and I feel it was more propaganda than anything else.”
Whatever it was didn’t last long.
Ritchie played in pre-season but never under Advocaat in a full blown competitive match and was soon on his way back to the north-west of England.
Hearts had shipped him out on loan to recoup some cash when they learned he would be off on a free later that season.
He spent the second half at Bolton Wanderers before the flash-in-the-pan return to Scotland.
After City he later played for Dundee United, Walsall and Derby plus picked up another Scotland cap from Berti Vogts.
Now he’s based on the west-coast of America, married to ex-Chelsea and LA Strikers soccer player turned coach Katie.
The couple announced this week that they are expecting their second child – a little sister for their kid Cruz.
He’s been there for the best part of a decade and a half, but a much shorter spell almost a quarter of a century ago, is still significant.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
“It’s going to live with me for the rest of my life,” he told The Scotsman.
“I’ll always be a pub quiz question about the international player who signed for Rangers and never played a competitive game.”
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