Liked this piece in the "View From The Bridge" page of the paper from a couple of weeks ago. For those of us that can remember Tom Richie it rings very true. "THE Fletcher saga reminds us of the last time transfer negotiations for an in-coming Sunderland player took such an epic portion of time. This was probably in 1981 when Tom Ritchie arrived from Second Division Bristol City. Ritchie was a Scottish centre forward and although his goal scoring record was not great, it will be remembered that he also had a poor first touch, was no good in the air, was slow, had little physical presence (he appeared to be constructed from pipe cleaners), no discernible charisma, was almost 30 years old and horribly overpriced at £185,000. At 12 percent of the then-record transfer fee received by a British club, the equivalent now would be around £10m. A snip. After weeks of will-he-wonât-he and âoooh-do-you-think-can-we-meet-his termsâ, Ritchie-mania finally hit Wearside when he came off the bench to contribute absolutely nothing in a 2-1 defeat at Southampton. Things then deteriorated for Tom, before he hit a rough patch, followed by a slump with a decline not far behind. It was after the decline that things started to really go wrong and he was eventually returned, to a still-laughing Bristol City, on a free transfer. At least it was a reported free transfer. Sunderland may well have had to slip them a few more quid to take him back. The best that can be said of Tom is that itâs funny now." Fingers crossed that the Fletcher deal does not turn out the same way, but I doubt that will happen.
Remember him well, and for all the wrong reasons..Fletcher has already shown that he has far more to offer than Richie ever did..
Tom Ritchie? A reminder of how far we have come as a club and yet there would be far worse than him to come after, with some highs and many more massive lows along the way, until we find ourselves here today with Martin O'Neill at the helm. Anyone who actually saw Tom Ritchie play can be in any doubt that Fletcher is not going to be like him. Chalk and cheese. Footnote: Ritchie wasn't the worst striker I've seen either. Thomas Hauser anyone?
Nowt wrong with Tommy Hauser Cest his name was in lights at the Roker End for a full season must have meant something? Or maybe that was when the scoreboard blew up after he actually scored (penalty I think). Crap in the air didn't score that many and didn't understand the offside rule, typical SAFC CF of that time.
You don't get a nickname of ****Hauser for nowt lad. Lol Mind, by all accounts, there are dozens of lads and lasses in their early 20's in the Washington area, who owe their very existence to Herr Hausers voracious libido? Lol
Remember watching a typical Hauser game mate he strayed offside within 3 minutes of kick off which was a miracle considering he managed to get into the oppositions half in that short space of time (not the fastest). He was then flagged on average every 5 minutes until the whole of the Fulwell End were shouting at him to get onside everytime he moved. Don't remember Ritchie much to be honest must have missed his short spell with us. Mate of mine lived in Penshaw and he reckoned Tommy was always there at some slappers house or other which would explain a lot
Herr Thomas knob had more penetration than his football ever did that's for sure. Lol Ritchie played around the 80/81 season and was pretty piss poor tbh. He was about 6ft 3 and as fat as a pipe cleaner (as mentioned) but he also reminded me of those kids toys where you pushed the base and the character on top would collapse; release the base and it would spring back upright. He would run with the ball, be confronted by a defender then just collapse and spring back up minus the ball. The frightening thing was, he was the best we could get at the time and its little wonder we eventually got relegated to the 3rd tier of English football only 4 years later. The team we watch today is like the 1970 Brazil team compared to the current Grange Villa Club Sunday team.
