andy ritchie with stephen mcgowan

AT 22 ANDY RITCHIE had the footballing world at his feet. Scotland's disastrous World Cup campaign in Argentina left the nation crying out for an entertainer and Morton's 'Idle Idol' filled the void. A former Celtic prospect, his spectacular goals, close control, dead ball genius and dazzling skills made him Scotland's player of the year and the nation's top goalscorer three years running. But by the age of 28 Ritchie dumped his boots in a bin and quit football for good. Plagued by depression, panic attacks and attitude problems one of the Scottish games biggest ever characters tells with brutal honesty of the match-day drinking, the gambling, the indiscipline and the casual drug abuse which cut short his playing days and drove the late Jock Stein to despair. Celtics chief scout under Tommy Burns he expresses his regrets at the failure to patch up a rift with his lifelong friend before he died and of the spell of homelessness he survived following a breakdown and the break-up of his marriage.