Come Back Paul; Stewart Fisher Finds the Former Hearts and Rangers Player Confident He Can Play His Part in Bringing European Nights Back to Tannadice

Summary

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THE black Mercedes belonging to Paul Ritchie manouevres safely into its chosen bay in the car park of a plush hotel in the shadow of the Tay Bridge without even the slightest hint of a last-minute U- turn. Seven days ago, the 28-year-old former Hearts, Rangers and Manchester City player completed a dramatic return journey to the Scottish game by pledging his next six months to Dundee United manager Ian McCall, but only after erroneous suggestions that he had opted at the very final second for a three-year arrangement with his former boss Jim Jefferies at Kilmarnock.

The venue for the interview is one of his choosing. It was in a hotel lobby much like this one, on holiday in the Algarve during Euro 2004, that Ritchie encountered another one of his former bosses Dick Advocaat, the man who both signed and sold him for Rangers within two months in the summer of 2000. The unsuccessful transfer set a pattern for the disjointed career which has followed the player ever since leaving Hearts four years ago. Now, the Dutch coach and entire entourage just happened to be sharing the same accommodation.

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Come Back Paul; Stewart Fisher Finds the Former Hearts and Rangers Player Confident He Can Play His Part in Bringing European Nights Back to Tannadice

"He [Advocaat] just asked how things were going, what I was doing with myself, and what my situation was over the summer," Ritchie recalls. "There was no animosity at all. He wasn't apologetic, but then I don't think he had to be. Back then, his only focus was on Rangers Football Club. But bet...

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