Peter Reid

For the Ironman Triathlete see Peter Reid (triathlete)

Peter Reid

Personal information
Full name	Peter Reid
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder

Peter Reid (born June 20, 1956 in Whiston, Knowsley, Lancashire (Now Merseyside) is an English former professional football player, manager and pundit. In his playing career Reid played for Bolton Wanderers, Everton and QPR, as well as representing his country, after which he managed Manchester City, Sunderland, Leeds and Coventry. He currently works as a TV pundit and as a football agent.

Playing career

Reid signed professional forms with Bolton Wanderers in 1974. He first won a medal when Bolton won the championship of the Football League Second Division in 1978. He was transferred to Everton for a cut-price fee of £60,000 in 1982 only 12 months after a much larger fee had been mooted - a succession of injuries had cut the price.

At club level his greatest achievement was as part of the Everton team which in 1984 won the FA Cup, in 1985 and 1987 the Football League championship and in 1985 the European Cup Winners' Cup. They nearly won a unique treble but lost 1-0 to Manchester United in the 1985 FA Cup final. In that game, Reid was recklessly challenged by Manchester United defender Kevin Moran who became the first player to be sent off in an FA Cup final.

At his peak Reid was the finest midfield enforcer in Europe. Peter Reid was voted PFA Footballer of the Year in 1985. He made 159 appearances (plus eight as substitute) for Everton. In 2006 Peter Reid was awarded with the 'Everton Giant' accolade.

Reid won 13 caps for England. Given his chance by the injuries to other players, he became the linchpin of the England team in the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. In the England-Argentina quarter-final at that tournament Reid was one of the England players left behind by Diego Maradona as he burst from inside his own half to score his second goal.

Reid was given a free transfer to Queens Park Rangers in 1989 but only stayed for ten months before starting his managerial career.

Managerial career

Manchester City

Reid's managerial career began in November 1990 at Manchester City. He was appointed player-manager at the Maine Road club after Howard Kendall resigned to begin the second of his three spells in charge of Everton. In 1990-91, Manchester City finished fifth (one place above neighbours Manchester United) and equalled this achievement the following season. In the first season of the FA Premier League (1992-93), City slipped slightly into ninth place and Reid was suddenly dismissed just after the start of the following season in a surprise decision especially considering the depths to which City would sink after his departure.

Southampton

Following his dismissal by Manchester City, in October 1993 Reid was persuaded by Ian Branfoot to resume his playing career with Southampton who were then in the middle of a crisis, with the Saints fans calling for Branfoot to be sacked and the whole club at a very low ebb, having lost 8 of their first 9 games. Reid brought a touch of guile and stability to the Saints side and despite playing only 8 games he made a major contribution to the team's fortunes as Saints' season started to come together, leading them to some important victories, most specially over Newcastle United on 24 October 1993 in which Matthew Le Tissier scored 2 of the most sublime goals of his career. His final game for Saints was a 3-1 victory over Chelsea on 28 December 1993.

Branfoot was sacked a few days later (after a home defeat by Norwich City). Reid was touted as a possible replacement for Branfoot, but he stated that, as Branfoot had brought him to the club, it would only be fair that he left as well.

There then followed brief spells with Notts County and Bury, before he finally hung up his playing boots.

Sunderland

Peter Reid made his return to management in March 1995 with Sunderland, who were battling against relegation in Division One. He kept the club in Division One and the following season they were crowned champions of the division and were promoted to the Premiership. The following season they were relegated back to Division One after losing their final game of the season, so their new 42,000-seat Stadium of Light would replace Roker Park initially as a Division One stadium rather than one hosting Premiership football.

Sunderland missed automatic promotion by one place in 1997-98, and drew 4-4 with Charlton Athletic in the Division playoff final. Peter Reid's side missed out on promotion after losing 8-7 in a penalty shoot out in one of the most dramatic games ever seen at Wembley Stadium.

The following season, free scoring striker Kevin Phillips was instrumental in getting Sunderland promoted back to the Premiership as Division One champions with a record breaking 105 points. This time round Sunderland's return to the top flight would be longer and more successful.

Throughout 1999-2000, Sunderland were competing for a place in European competition but in the end missed out after finishing in seventh place. Still, Peter Reid's team had achieved one of the highest finishes ever achieved by a Premiership team in the season after promotion. Phillips was the highest league scorer in England with 30 goals in the Premiership.

For a while in 2000-01, Sunderland were second in the Premiership and it looked as though they would secure qualification for the UEFA Champions League, but their form dipped in the final stages of the season and again they finished seventh. After two successive seventh place finishes, Reid was now confident that Sunderland could make it third time lucky in their quest for a European place. But it was not to be.

Sunderland ended the 2001-02 season one place above the Premiership relegation zone with 28 goals - fewer than any other team in the division. In a bid to halt the decline, Reid paid a club record £6million for Norwegian striker Tore André Flo from Rangers, but the reinforcements were not successful and he was let go in October 2002 after nearly eight years as Sunderland manager.

Leeds United

Peter Reid was out of work until March 2003, when he was appointed interim manager of Leeds United after the dismissal of Terry Venables. The Elland Road club had been hit by £80million debts after their £100million outlay on new players in the space of five seasons had failed to land them a trophy. Reid looked to be just the man to reverse the decline, especially after a 6-1 away win over Charlton Athletic and a 3-2 away win over Arsenal which ended the opposition's Premiership title hopes. But the club was still in a financial crisis and Reid's new signings over the summer of 2003 were all free transfers and loan deals. Many of them were brought in from the French League, notably Olembe and Lamine Sakho and he also brought in the comically inept Roque Junior, a Brazilian world cup winning centre half amazingly. His most important longterm signing was Kevin Blackwell who he brought in from Sheffield United to be Assistant Manager, by the end of Reid's last season Blackwell had become manager of Leeds United. As well as this Reid was forced to sell Harry Kewell who had been central to the Leeds team since the turn of the century. Reid's new signings failed to gel, Olembe seldom played, Roque Junior was sent off in his first game an embarrassing defeat to Birmingham City at home and Sakho was incapable of replacing Kewell as the pacy creator of Leeds attacks. The team lacked a midfield general as well- Reid was forced to play David Batty there. A 6-1 defeat at Portsmouth was the final straw for the club's board of directors and in November Reid was dismissed after less than eight months in charge. After his sacking the club also dispensed with many of his loan signings returning them to their clubs. Unsurprisingly a makeshift Leeds side with defenders and strikers playing in midfield were relegated at the end of the season and most of the players that Reid had used left at the end of the season as the club held a fire sale of its celebrated and less celebrated players.

Coventry City

Leeds were eventually relegated from the Premiership, but by that time Peter Reid had already found himself a new job. He was appointed manager of Coventry City and was aiming to get the club back into the Premiership and settled into its new 32,000-seat stadium for the 2005-06 season. However, Reid left the club by mutual consent on January 6 2005 with the club 20th in the Football League Championship having lost five of their previous eight league games. He was succeeded by Micky Adams and has yet to return to management.

Pundit

Since his days as manager of Sunderland Reid has made occasional appearances on Sky Sports and its related channels as a football pundit. With the decline of his managing career his appearances on these programmes gradually increased and as of 2007 he is a semi-regular on Sky Sports News's Saturday results programme. During the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, Reid worked for the BBC, often appearing alongside Lee Dixon in post-match analysis.

Cheer Up Peter Reid

In 1996 a group of Sunderland fans operating under the name Simply Red and White had a top 50 hit with the song 'Cheer Up Peter Reid'- an altered version of the song Daydream Believer.

Agent

Since his last job in management with Coventry City, Reid has now become a registered agent with FIFA.

References

• Template:Country data 6648
• Peter Reid management career statistics at Soccerbase
• Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk (2003). In That Number - A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology. ISBN 0-9534474-3-X.

External links

• List of FIFA-registered agents in England