Andy Ritchie began his managerial career with Oldham Athletic.
Ritchie succeeded Neil Warnock as Oldham manager in May 1998 having returned to the club in February 1997, ten years after first signing for Joe Royle's Latics.
Ritchie's professional career began as an apprentice at Manchester United for whom he made around 30 appearances, but he was not really given the opportunity to establish himself in the first team and left Old Trafford to join Brighton and Hove Albion in 1980 before moving on to Leeds in 1983.
Joe Royle signed Ritchie in 1987 and he went on to become a legend at Boundary Park. In eight years with Oldham he scored over 104 league and cup goals in nearly 250 appearances (including 34 as sub) making him one of the greatest ever goal scorers Boundary Park has ever seen. He reached two FA Cup semi-finals and a League Cup final under Joe Royle but left the club in 1995 to join Scarborough, having played briefly under his former strike partner Graeme Sharp.
After spending just 18 months on the North East Coastline - the call then came from Latics Chairman, Ian Scott, and Andy retruned to Boundary Park to become player/coach alongside manager Neil Warnock.
Warnock's reign was a short one, 15 months to be exact, and Ritchie was a popular choice to take over from Warnock.
After Oldham, Ritchie enjoyed a successful spell back at Leeds United in charge of Youth Development.
Ritchie was then appointed assistant manager at under manager Paul Hart. When Hart left the role in March 2005, Ritchie's had a successful period as caretaker manager. He was then confirmed as manager on a permanent basis in May 2005.
In the 2005/06 season Ritchie guided Barnsley to the League One playoff final against Swansea City. Victory at the Millenium stadium ensured promotion to the Football League Championship.
After leaving Barnsley in November 2006, he was appointed Huddersfield Town manager in April 2007. The highlight of his tenure was a FA Cup run which saw Town win against Birmingham City.
Ritchie and Huddersfield parted company in April 2008.
