RITCHIE WOULD SWOP BIG SAM FOR TIME AT RANGERS
SAM ALLARDYCE’S reputation is in tatters.
But he will always hear kind words from former Rangers, Hearts and Scotland defender Paul Ritchie.
He played under the former England boss at Bolton Wanderers for five months in 2000 when they reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup and League Cup, and also lost out to Ipswich Town in the Premiership play-offs.
Ritchie has nothing but fond memories of his time at the club and found Allardyce to be a top-class boss and a brilliant man-manager.
He reflected: “Sam was a fantastic guy to work for. I’m grateful for the time I had under him at Bolton.
“In terms of what his backroom staff provided for the players, Sam was ahead of his time when it came to sports science, weight training and player conditioning.
“He also knew the game inside out and knew how to get the best out of players.
“Bolton reached two Cup semis the season I was there and I remember the pain of losing to Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi and then to Ipswich over two legs to get into the Premiership.
“On reflection, it was probably the most enjoyable five or six-month period in my career.
“In hindsight, I’d have loved the opportunity to have stayed there and continued to improve under Sam.
“But the opportunity to join Rangers was there, and I had to take that. I WAS a football agent for eight years. I never got asked for money and I never offered it.
It was, though, an untrustworthy business.
There were a lot of dodgy people operating in the field, and I was never entirely comfortable being in amongst it.
Throughout my time, I would hear through the grapevine about other agents cutting deals with club managers.
People spoke of them giving cash to managers, involved in transfers that had made them a lot of money, by way of a reward.
The other side of it was of managers themselves making demands to player representatives, along the lines of: “Look, I am making you a lot of money. I want a cut.”
You would also hear of agents saying to clubs: “How much do you want for your player?”
Then, on hearing their reply, they would say: “Okay, I want 50% of anything I get over and above that figure. “The other half will be yours.” The worst stories were of transfer deals that should never have happened. A manager would buy a player for a club, not because they needed him, but because he knew HE personally would make money out of it.
Or instances where an agent, who had supplied a club with some of their biggest names, would persuade them to also take a chance on one of his clients who wasn’t up to the level he’d be expected to play at.
They would agree to keep him sweet, and the player would be written off as ‘a deveSlaompmAellnart je(cbte ’, maybe used in a couple of friendly games or cup ties against inferior opposition.
I don’t have concrete evidence these deals
“It didn’t work out for me, but I arrived there as a better player and more rounded professional. “Sam Allardyce had a lot to do with that.” Ritchie left Dick Advocaat’s Ibrox regime after just two months in a £500,000 transfer to Manchester City, without a Rangers first-team appearance to his name.
That took him closer to seeing what Allardyce was doing at Bolton, and he was impressed. “If you look at players Sam has managed during his career, you see some highly-talented individuals,” said