Ritchie played as a goalkeeper and made almost 300 Scottish Football League (SFL) appearances for Brechin City over two spells, and also played for Cowdenbeath, Dundee United and English club Bradford City.
Ritchie began his career in the mid-1960s with Cowdenbeath and went on to play over 100 matches for the Central Park side before moving to Brechin City in 1967.
After a similar length of time at Glebe Park, Ritchie moved south in the early 1970s to Bradford City, where he averaged around 20 league matches in each of his three seasons.
[2] Upon retiring, Ritchie stayed with Brechin as a member of the coaching staff, assisting Ian Fleming when the club won Scottish Division Two in the early 1980s and becoming manager later in the same decade.
Winning Division Two in the 1989–90 season, Ritchie left in 1993 to take up a coaching position with Hibernian and moved to a similar role with Dunfermline Athletic in 1999.