OTD: REID APPOINTED

On this day in 1995, Peter Reid was appointed manager of Sunderland. He remained with the club until 2002, overseeing 353 matches, 159 wins and two First Division titles in total.

Having made his name as a player with Bolton Wanderers, alongside Sam Allardyce (where they both learned to chew gum), and Everton, alongside Paul Bracewell. Earning England caps along the way, Reid had a year at Queens Park Rangers before joining Manchester City in 1990. When Howard Kendall (Manchester City's manager) left in November 1990, he became player-manager, a post he held until 1993. He returned to full-time playing at Southampton, Notts County, and Bury. At Sunderland, Mick Buxton was given the boot in 1995, after we’d lost six out of seven games. That run culminated in a 2-0 defeat at Barnsley, when Buxton had given debuts to Brett Angell (reason enough to sack anybody) and Dominic Matteo (his only game, as we’d not done the paperwork properly. How very Sunderland), leaving us in 20th place in the First Division. Bob Murray gave Reidy seven games to save our season and he did just that. Craig Russell’s last-minute winner against Sheffield Utd set things rolling and, whilst we might only have averaged a goal a game, we lost only once and finished four points clear of the drop.

The 1995/96 season saw us grind our way to promotion, with Bobby Saxton backing up Reidy and adding a new dimension to swearing. After a stuttering start, we sorted ourselves out and hit the top in December, dropping down a few places but getting back there in mid-March. A run of six clean sheets saw us promoted with a game to spare, meaning that our final day defeat to Tranmere Rovers had no bearing on our success and Reidy was chaired around the pitch by celebrating Sunderland fans; including at least two Elvises. Our manager’s demeanour was perceived by some as being miserable, considering we were winning, so the song “Cheer up Peter Reid” was born, and even released by Simply Red and White, peaking at number 41 in the hit parade, pop-pickers.

Things didn’t go too well the next season, as it quickly became apparent that we’d been promoted too soon, if such a thing is possible. It didn’t help that Reidy’s big hope, Niall Quinn, bust his knee at Coventry City in September. He returned before the end of the season, before he’d fully recovered, but our fate was confirmed on the last day as our fans took over Selhurst Park and Wimbledon, despite trying not to, beat us 1-0. Across London, Tottenham Hotspur kicked off late against Coventry (again), citing traffic problems as the reason. Hmmm, the same road we’d come down and then driven through another dozen miles of London. The BBC had filmed Premier Passions as they followed our fight for survival and there were more bleeps than a Morse Code version of War and Peace, as Reid and Sacko made their feelings clear. Putting those bleeps in took over a year, meaning the series wasn’t broadcast until early 1998. It’s still an easier watch than Sunderland ‘Til I Die.

1997/98 started in a new stadium, but our form stunk until the Nightmare at Elm Park (we lost 4-0 to Reading), after which Reidy shook things up and set up the defence of Darren Holloway, Darren Williams, Jody Craddock and Michael Gray that shored things up and, his best ever buy, Kevin Phillips, started scoring and didn’t stop. We spent most of the season in second or third place, eventually making the play-offs after the final day results didn’t quite go our way. We drew 4-4 with Charlton Athletic in the play-off final after extra time, then lost 7-6 on penalties, Gray's missed penalty keeping us in the second tier for another year. Oh and Sunderland fan Clive Mendonca scored a hat-trick for Charlton that day, plus he bagged one in the shootout. We began next season with a vengeance though, by going 24 games unbeaten in all competitions initially and, as a result, swashbuckled our way to promotion, achieving that at Bury on 13th April and claiming the title at Barnsley three days later, winning the league by 18 points. We lost only three league games, scored 91 goals and let in only 28; Super Kev had grabbed 26 goals, despite missing over three months, after Reidys’ brother, Shaun, stood on his toe in a League Cup game against Chester City. Things were going so well that he even managed the England under-21 team on his days off and got us to the semi final of the League Cup. Two seventh place finishes in the Premier League followed, as we were treated to famous names joining us, such as Don Hutchison, Stefan Schwarz, Claudio Reyna, Jason McAteer and Tore Andre Flo (well, he was famous). Then, the wheels started to come off. Quinn got old, Phillips lost his mojo, Reidy seemed genuinely morose and, after ending 2001/02 one place from the drop, we started the following season badly. After eight points from our opening nine games, he was sacked and Howard Wilkinson (shudder) came in.

After leaving us, Reidy managed Leeds United, Coventry, Thailand, Plymouth Argyle and Mumbai City, having several spells out of the game. His “one of the lads” persona has ensured he’s a go-to person for the likes of Question of Sport and any punditry that’s going. Whatever your thoughts on Peter Reid, he gave us some of the most entertaining football in our history and got us promoted twice.