I can’t believe that so little has been said about Pritch making appearance number 600 yesterday, nothing in the NLP and very little on here so I would just like to make my thanks known, all those years ago away against Buxton the first time I saw this young centre half getting his marching orders I knew then Witton had a legend in the making (honest ;)) Thanks for all the years Pritch I doubt we will ever see this milestone reached again, onward towards the 1000 ;D
Pritch, you are a legend of WAFC. Let’s hope to many more appearances yet.
As above i wanna thank Pritch for being such a loyal player. Just hope if you ever do call it a day (which I hope never happens)it is to become manager!
To quote the legend directly;
"All I worry about is how the club is doing … I don’t want any fuss about records until the season end"
I would not usually publish a direct quote on here without asking the permission of the person first, however I think this says everything there is to say about the legendary Mr Pritchard. He only has one focus at the moment and I believe there will be no more fitting reward than being there to lift a trophy at the end of April.
We had discussed holding a dinner around February to celebrate him beating Alf Ashley’s record however at his request he does not want to divert focus from the job in hand.
There will be a big celebration of his achievement (whether he likes it or not), but once the business end of the season has been completed! 
This is a stunning achievement for a footballer to reach 600 games for a club and he will soon hold the club record for appearances, I doubt it will EVER be beaten (due mainly to the nature of the modern game and loyalty being a thing of the past)!
Players, managers, directors and fans will come and go from the club over the years - few people will have the impact that Brian Pritchard has and more importantly continues to have. We need him to give the best performances he has ever given in the next 16 games, I think he sees these are more important than the 600 that have gone before!
A fantastic bloke, great footballer and proud wittoner. Thanks Brian for the first 600!
Top post Rabbit, my only gripe about the likeale scouser is the sh*t he gives me over West Brom, mind you he’s not on his own, magnificent achievement,well done.
Quite right too, there is only one Albion you should be following and their stripes are red and white!
Pritch once called on me to ask me to stop having a go at the idiot that we used to have as a manager. As it was Pritch I complied, I would have not done so for anyone else. He is a LEGEND at Witton and a wonderful person, my congratulations to him and may he be with Witton many more years. 1000 games is not beyond him!!!Who said "All Coppers are B******s"?
WHS.
It’s true we will probably never see the like of Pritch again. But of course he’s not finished yet by a long chalk.
Congrats on your 600th big man - hopefully topped off with the championship!
Oh yes, and Baggie, a nice Freudian slip? … "the likeale scouser"
Priceless ;D
When was the original appearance record set?
And after Pirtch who is our next-highest appearance holder in the current squad?
Need Chad to confirm the dates of that Alf Ashley played but it is a fair few years ago.
As for current appearances Peers and Spearritt are tied on 123 so Peers will be in second place, Brownhill on 117 and JK the only other one in three figures on 109. There is an up to date appearance table in the back of the last matchday programme!
Well Done Big Man ! Thanks for everything that you have done for this club, and continue to do.
I’d just like to add my congratulations and thanks to Pritch on reaching this particular milestone.
To put it into context he has given more to this Football Club over the last decade + than any other person bar none.
He has given over every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of his life to the club and even now has to use his annual leave to ensure that he can turn out for us on Matchdays.
He has never given less than 100% for the cause. and has proved countless doubters, wrong when they thought he could be easily replaced.
On top of that he’s a bloody good footballer!!!
I think the measure of the man is when you see him after matches in the Club. EVERYONE wants to speak to him, and he makes sure he gets round to all of them.
Another measure of his committment is when you see him leaving matches with his uniform on and heading straight to work, and this applies to home and away matches (as evident last season when he left Whitby to go straight to work!!).
I’m sure he would swap his 600 appearances though for a championship medal in April.
The word legend is used far too freely, however Pritch is a true LEGEND!
Groundsman, Commercial Manager, and captain are just 3 of his roles over the last 12 years. He’s Witton through and through and he hates the scum! If everything goes to plan and we win the league this year, I hope he is the one leading the team up to lift the trophy.
Well done Pritch!
I’d love to see him lift a trophy this season!! It would be very fitting.
Going back to June when Mike Moseley turned out for the Supporters Team, he rang Pritch to see if he was coming down but Pritch said he was at Witton painting the dug-outs!!!
[quote][quote]
When was the original appearance record set?
And after Pirtch who is our next-highest appearance holder in the current squad?
[/quote][/quote]
Checking back through Chad’s Albion Greats (See Lincoln Utd programme 20/1/07)
Alf Ashley 604 competitive appearances
Debut 25/8/45 Vs Rhyl (H)
Last game 7/2/59 Vs Wrexham (A)
14 season’s
Indeed - congrats Brian, your contribution over the last 10 years has been exceptional.
I’ve never known a Witton without him!
Well done.It’s a fantastic record in the modern game, at any level.
I could write reams on "Pritch". The lad is just brilliant. To me he is WITTON simple as that. If your looking for your kids to have a role model as a person sportsman, and all round human being this bloke is the one you’d select. When my lad used to play football with the other kids he always wanted to be Brian Pritchard while they wanted to be Eric Cantona,or Steve Bruce, or some other overpaid footballer. I used to chuckle at this. The fact that Nick is now 23 and has grown up watching Pritch play says it all. So its really unthinkable a Witton without Pritch. When he stops playing we need to find him a role within the club where we can still use his talents. They give MBE’s away to some people who don’t deserve them so why not give one to Pritch for services to grass roots football. Pull your fingers out FA and Sir Trvor Brooking etc and get him an MBE. Pritch is just fantastic and put in Scouse terms "I love the bones of the lad". Keep going mate your know where near finished yet!!
I have already mentioned that before Mona, anyone can nominate when we spoke about it before a link was put on to the nominations site