Crushed in Laudrup final and ruining Walter's farewell - Paul Ritchie

Paul chose Rangers, yet it was a move that was to turn sour. Fast.

Here in the closing instalment of a two-part interview Ritchie takes a walk down Memory Lane to two very different Scottish Cup Finals against Walter Smith’s Rangers.

The mental scars were still there, then Paul Ritchie helped to inflict an afternoon of pain on Rangers’ Band of Brothers and he began to heal.

Ritchie was part of the Hearts side who were torn apart and tormented by Brian Laudrup and Gordon Durie in the 1996 Scottish Cup Final on their way to a numbing 5-1 Hampden defeat.

Jukebox scored a hat-trick that day, yet the peerless Danish winger was so dominant that the game became known as The Laudrup Final.

Fast forward to two years later and the showpiece finale to the 1998 season was at Celtic Park with the Gers fans knowing boss Walter Smith and a host of Nine in a Row legends would be involved in their last game for the club.

The stage was set for a final trophy for an iconic Ibrox manager but Jim Jefferies’ Jambos had other ideas.

Hearts’ 2-1 triumph that day ensured Ritchie of hero status at his boyhood heroes and he revealed: “I re-watched that 1998 Final not that long ago, my Dad passed away last November and I went home for the funeral.

“My mum had all the old scrapbooks out, she kept everything and I read them all and went through all the build-up again.

“Remember, we had played Rangers in the 1996 Cup Final and we got destroyed 5-1 by Laudrup, Durie and Gascoigne.

Laudrup and Durie (Image: SNS)

“I had a tackle on Gazza that should have been a red card as I was last man and Hugh Dallas did me a favour.

“That was the ultimate low for me at Hearts, we caught them on a bad day for us and they ran amok.

“So two years later it was about revenge and we had a balance and a self-belief that Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown had instilled in us.

“We were actually up there running with the Old Firm in the league until in March/April time when we lost a crucial derby 2-1 to Hibs and the gap appeared.

“Internally before that Final we felt we had a real chance, we felt we were a thorn in their side.

“Allan Johnston had scored a hat-trick against them at Ibrox and Neil McCann had their number.

“That Cup Final day at Celtic Park we got the early penalty and the stars aligned for us.”

The script for Smith’s last game of his first spell in charge of Gers was ripped to shreds despite Ally McCoist’s late goal.

Rangers had fallen two behind when Lorenzo Amoruso slept on a long clearance through the middle and Hearts’ French striker Stephane Adam pounced to rifle a diagonal shot home despite a despairing touch from Andy Goram.

Paul admitted: “The goal after Colin Cameron scored from the spot gave us something to hang onto but then they f***ing bombarded us!

“Then Stephane scored again and you started to think it was there for us, we fought and scratched and although we lost one late on to Coisty we did it.”

Yesterday, we examined the reasons why Dick Advocaat chose to discard a rising Scotland international defender without his new Bosman signing having played a competitive game for the club.

It’s easy to forget that just nine months before that bombshell decision Ritchie started the Euro 2000 play-off against England at Hampden with the late Craig Brown entrusting him with the job of marking Manchester United superstar David Beckham.

Paul was the left wing-back in Brown’s 3-5-2 that day and he confessed: “Playing at wing-back against Beckham that day was a shot in the dark but Craig felt I could do a job against him.

“He had a superb free-kick delivery for Paul Scholes’ second after I had fouled him and that was a bitter moment.

“I felt we nullified him to an extent but he had so much quality I was exhausted that day keeping tabs on him and I couldn’t get forward.”

Typically in our national history of glorious failures, after the low of that 0-2 reverse at home against Kevin Keegan’s England, Scotland came agonisingly close to turning it around at Wembley in the second leg.

Don Hutchison’s thumping header sealed the victory but Scotland just couldn’t find a second in a superb performance.

Ritchie reflected: “Craig brought Callum Davidson in as a more attacking option at Wembley for the second leg and I understood that because I was a little like a duck out of water going forward.

“I knew my roles and responsibilities as a defender but not going forward as a wing-back.

“I feel I was a competent defender and you needed that against Beckham, he’s a unit and if you gave him half a yard he was the best passer of the ball in the world.

“I knew he couldn’t run me but he was quick enough and a killer in possession feeding people like Alan Shearer and Paul Scholes.”

Paul would hang up his boots with seven Scotland caps in his locker and a lifetime of memories.

One famous triumph in Germany, clad in a fondly remembered away strip rides high in those recollections.

Scotland players celebrate Don Hutcheson's winning goal against Germany (Image: SNS)

He smiled: “I was a part of the Pink Panzers who beat Germany 1-0 in Bremen and there are not many players who can claim that.

“I was supposed to be no.14 that night but Paul Lambert – who had won the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund was back in Germany – and he wanted his shirt!

“So I sat on the bench with no4 on my back and it’s still framed in my house.”

It’s a testament to what Paul could bring to the party when he was fully fit that in 2004 Berti Vogts placed faith in him and gave him an international recall despite the fact that he was operating in the English Championship for unfashionable Walsall.

Vogts’ reign as Scotland boss, which brought just eight wins in 31 matches, was peppered with some grim nights for the nation and sadly Paul was at the heart of one of them in a disastrous friendly away to Wales.

He sighed: “My seventh and last cap was a step too far for me as I was at Walsall in the Championship and I wasn’t at the right level to be playing for Scotland.

“Yes, I was playing well at the time but it’s about levels.

“That night was horrific, it was a low point in my football life and I wasn’t expected to start.

“Every mistake I could make, I made that night and I got Rob Earnshaw a Premiership move to West Brom from his hat-trick.

“I had shut him out that season when he was at Cardiff but that night was awful for me.

“The rest of it though? Some great memories, I played against French legends Zidane and Djorkaeff at Hampden. I scored my Scotland goal in a 3-2 defeat against the Czechs.

“Hindsight is a great thing but I will always feel my career for both club and country wasn’t what it should have been.

“I had a bad injury at Manchester City, we got relegated and then Kevin Keegan didn’t like me.

“I had loans and injuries and you always have regrets about spells of it.”

Now 47, Ritchie has an enviable lifestyle as Academy Director of leading San Diego youth franchise City Soccer Club.

He has spent the last eight years there guiding emerging American talents towards University scholarships to make the most of their football talent and gain a life-changing education.

And he said: “Now my role in the game is to pass on what I have to kids in the States and get them to college to have the game pay for their education.

“My first break in the States came when I had snapped my cruciate playing for Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus and I quit there to come back to Scotland and get fit.

“I got a call from a coach called Martin Rennie to try the States with Carolina Railhawks.

“The injuries had hurt me, you have worries about being paid in Cyprus, I got my operation and I tried to come back quicker than I should have and I ruptured my knee again.

“It was 18 months later when I had got myself back to a relative level of fitness that Martin got in touch to ask if I wanted to try the States.

“I was still only 30 and Martin wanted me as an experienced player and to help him as a coach because he was at the start of his journey.

“He’d been successful in USL 2 and it looked a great project but I broke down after the first game and as a player that was that.

“I went into the coaching side and we created a great environment and a successful franchise in Carolina.

Paul Ritchie on the bench as an MLS coach (Image: Getty)

“Martin got noticed through that and he went to Vancouver Whitecaps where I joined him and had three enjoyable years in Major League Soccer as his no2.

“We got the club to play-offs for the first time and had Barry Robson and Kenny Miller as successful Designated Players.

“When Martin’s contract was up it wasn’t renewed and with the job open I decided not to interview against my fellow assistant Karl Robinson as I felt he was favourite.

“I thought I’d be kept as an assistant but that didn’t work out and my time in the MLS was finished.”

It is not in Ritchie’s positive attitude DNA to be that bitter former pro who feels the game owes him a living.

He assessed where his life was, pondered the need for balance and opted to be part of the burgeoning youth football space in America and not sit by the phone waiting for a call that would see him return home to management or to the MLS.

Paul confessed: “I do miss the relationships I was able to create with top players, I felt like the glue that stuck everything together.

“As long as you and the manager have each other’s back it’s a great role being an assistant coach, I was young enough at 35 when I started in those roles to play soccer tennis and bond with them.

“I think head coaches need to have that distance from players, I saw my job as to be close to players and relate with them.

“I know the commitment it takes to be at that level and I have my UEFA Pro Licence and I have just completed my Elite UEFA A Licence.

“Yet I look at the hours Academy Directors at pro clubs have to put in now and it is not healthy.

“I feel there is more to life then football and I feel I have found the balance I need.

“I’m still feeling the stress of wanting to see everything done right but it’s not the end of the day if we lose a game. Life’s too short for that.

“I just want to leave City Soccer Club in a better place than I found it and affect the lives of as many kids as possible in a positive.

“In the last three years we have got over 60 kids into college programs at different levels.

“That wasn’t a thing before we came here and I am proud of that, this job has helped me become a better and more educated person.”