The journey from the prison cell to the penalty box to pulpit sounds like the plot for a bad Hollywood movie. But this is the real life journey that ex-Orienteer Ricky Otto took.
Ricky Junior Otto played for the Os between 1990 and 1993, making 56 appearances and scoring 13 goals. The pacey, tricky winger, who also played as a striker on occasion, was a bit of a legendary figure – given his somewhat colourful background and visually striking dreadlocks.
Ricky grew up in Hackney in a broken home – apparently he didn’t meet his Dad until his late teens. By all accounts a bright lad who stood out for his school football team and had spells as a youngster with Spurs and West Ham where he played against the likes of Tony Adams, Paul Merson, David Rocastle and Paul Ince, but Otto was also, unfortunately, a bit of a tearaway who struggled to keep out of trouble.
By the age of 15 he had fallen in with a bad crowd and was out of full-time education. Otto has been quite open about his descent into, at first, petty crime, and then onto more serious misdemeanours – the proceeds of which he used to buy smart clothes to impress his friends and the ladies. He had already had four custodial spells by the time, aged 21, things took a more serious turn and he was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 4 years in prison.
It was during this spell in prison that Ricky decided that he needed to turn his life around and which led to him joining the O's. He impressed/humiliated his fellow prisoners with his footballing skills in the prison gym – so much so that 2 old lags had a word with him and convinced him that someone with his ability shouldn’t be in jail. Otto took this to heart and spent the rest of his time in prison getting himself fit and his life back on track.
After early release from prison in 1990 he joined some old friends in signing for amateur side Haringey Borough and quickly impressed. Orient were the first side to take a punt on the young man with the troubled past and signed him in the summer of 1990.
Otto quickly established himself as a regular in the side that was doing relatively well at the time in the 3rd tier.
In his first season the Os finished mid-table but Otto’s performances drew attention from a number of higher league clubs and Coventry City (then of the Premier League) made a bid to sign him in the summer of 1991. However, Otto decided that the money on offer was not sufficient to tempt him to relocate away from London and he elected to stay at Brisbane Road for a further two seasons.
Over the next two seasons, Otto continued to be a solid performer for the Orient. In 91-92 they finished 10th and the following year 7th– agonisingly missed out on the play-offs on goal difference. Ricky scored a memorable hat-trick at Brighton and in the summer signed for Southend who secured his services for £100,000.
Otto flourished under Barry Fry at Roots Hall turning in some outstanding performances on the wing for the Shrimpers in a side that was surprising a lot of teams in the 2nd tier. At one point in Otto’s first season there Southend were up to 3rd and threatening to snatch promotion into the newly formed Premier League. But Southend eventually fell away and finished the season in mid-table – prompting Fry to up sticks and move to Birmingham City.
Otto continued to perform well for Southend in the first half of the next season and attracted interest from a number of clubs. Despite this Otto has stated that he wanted to stay at Roots Hall but when he approached Chairman, Vic Jobson, to ask for the pay rise that he thought he deserved he was turned down. This prompted him to consider moving elsewhere, at which point his old boss Barry Fry came to his rescue and convinced the board at Birmingham to part with £800,000 to secure his services.
It was at Birmingham that Otto enjoyed his most successful spell. He had the dubious honour of scoring both goals in a 1-1 draw with Cambridge on his debut but then went on to score the winner against Cardiff 2 days later and to quickly establish himself as a fan favourite. This culminated in Otto putting in the cross for Paul Tait to score the winner at Wembley in the 1995 Auto Windscreens Shield Trophy final. Birmingham also secured promotion to the 2ndtier that season and all looked rosy for Ricky when he scored against Ipswich on the first day of the new Championship season.
Sadly, things didn’t quite work out for him and he struggled to secure a regular starting place at St Andrews in the following season. When Trevor Francis took over as manager at the start of the 1996-97 season Otto was sent on loan to Charlton and then Peterborough (under Barry Fry again!). He again went on loan at the start of the 1997-98 season to Notts County where he sadly sustained a serious knee injury which, effectively, ended his career.
After partially recovering Otto played for a number of non-league clubs in the West Miidlands (Halesowen Town, Bloxwich United and Romulus) before playing his last 2 senior games in the unlikely environs of Rhyl Town on the north coast of Wales!
After he finished playing football Ricky decided that he wanted to help people who had come from a similar background to find their way out of crime. He therefore trained as a probation officer and put his experience of the prison system to good use in the West Midlands criminal justice system. After a few years he founded his own probation consultancy service – specialising in helping prisoners find their feet on release from prison.
Otto clearly had a higher calling though and went on to study for a degree in Theology before becoming a pastor with the ARC Church in Birmingham where he still lives.
An unlikely move from scoring goals to saving souls but one that appears to be working for the ex-O who I’m sure many fans will remember with fondness.
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