On this day in 1995, Peter Reid was made our manager. The rest, as they say, is history...
Having made his name as a player with Bolton, alongside Sam Allardyce (where they both learned to chew gum), and Everton, alongside Paul Bracewell, earning England caps on the way, Reidy had a year at QPR before joining Man City in 1990. When Howard Kendall left in November, he became player-manager, a post he held until 1993, when he returned to full-time playing at Southampton, Notts County, and Bury. At Sunderland, Mick Buxton was given the boot after we’d lost six out of seven games – that run culminating 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 20st place in the Championship. Bob Murray gave Reidy seven games to save our season, and he did just that. Craig Russell’s last-minute winner against Sheff Utd set things rolling, and while we might only have averaged a goal a game, we lost only once and finished four points clear of the drop.
1995-96 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 before getting back there in mid-March. A run of six clean sheets saw us promoted with a game to spare, meaning that our last-game defeat at Tranmere meant nothing 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 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, Spurs kicked off late against Coventry (again), citing traffic problems as the reason. Hmmm – the same road we’d come down and then down another dozen miles across 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, after which Reidy shook things up and set up the defence of Holloway, Williams, Craddock, and 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 all know what happened against Charlton, and what happened the following season as we started by going 24 games unbeaten in all competitions and swashbuckled our way to promotion, achieving that at Bury on April 13th and claiming the title at Barnsley three days later, winning the league by 18 points. We lost only three games, scored 91 goals and let in only 28 – SuperKev had grabbed another 25 goals, despite missing over three months after Reidys’ brother Shaun stood on his toe in a League Cup game against Chester. Things were going so well that he even managed England U21s on his days off, and got us to the semi-final of the League Cup. Two seventh place finishes in the Prem followed as we were treated to famous names joining us – Hutchison, Schwarz, Reyna, McAteer, 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.
Since leaving us, Reidy has managed Leeds, Coventry, Thailand, Plymouth, 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.
