First Team

Ritchie started out in the youth system at Chelsea before signing for Southend United with whom he made his Football League debut against Sheffield United. After one further appearance for Southend he moved to Conference National side Welling United. The following season he signed for Rushden & Diamonds before joining Peterborough United in December 1998 where he made almost 50 League appearances while also having a couple of loan spells back at Welling. He returned to Rushden in 2001 for a lengthy spell before moving to Stevenage Borough in June 2004. From there he had spells with Lincoln City and Weymouth before joining Cambridge United in September 2005. In January 2007 he was forced to retire from playing due to a persistent knee injury.

Aged just 29, Ritchie had a short spell in charge at St Albans City until September 2007 thereafter he took a break from the game. In 2012, he was appointed joint manager at Kings Langley alongside Paul Hughes. The pair led Kings Langley to three consecutive promotions, finishing 2nd in Spartan South Midlands Division One in 2014, and then winning the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division title in 2015. Following a third promotion that saw Kings Langley become champions of the Southern League Central Division and take the club to the Southern Premier Division, Ritchie, alongside Hughes, moved to Hayes & Yeading United in November 2016.

Having been unable to stave off relegation in their first season, Ritchie departed for personal reasons with Paul taking sole control of the side. Ritchie returned to United a couple of years later as Paul Hughes' assistant and saw the club win promotion back to the Southern Premier South, kept everything together through the Covid seasons and then again helped United to a sadly unsuccessful play-off final against Farnborough in May 2022.

With Paul Hughes stepping down after the conclusion of the 2022/23 for family reasons, the club put their faith in Ritchie and he was immediately appointed as First Team Manager while also retaining the rest of Paul Hughes' backroom staff to assist him as the club look to climb back to the National League South this coming season.