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Peter Reid Born0000-00-00 |
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Bio Written by Monksie
When Howard Kendall resigned as City’s manager to return to Everton in November 1990, he recommended to the Maine Road board that his successor should be player-coach Peter Reid, whom Kendall had brought to Maine Road almost a year earlier as he rebuilt a City side to stay in the First Division. Reid was appointed caretaker-manager and strangely became City’s first - and so far only - player-manager, with a brief to continue the excellent start the Blues had a made a year after returning to the top flight and staying up after a protracted relegation struggle. This he did in fine style as City finished fifth in the table, finishing above neighbours United for the first time in 13 years. Along the way there were several notable victories, including home and away wins over Nottingham Forest, a 2-1 victory at high-flying Leeds United and a 5-1 win at Aston Villa in which young home-grown striker David White bagged four goals. Reid had been an easy choice to succeed his mentor Kendall; not only did he have the former boss’ recommendation but the City fans had clamoured for his appointment, and of course he was a relatively cheap option for the board with no compensation to be paid to another club for relieving them of their manager.
With the financial backing of his chairman Peter Swales, Reid set about rebuilding the squad and brought in Keith Curle (for a club-record £2.5 million fee), Steve McMahon, Michel Vonk and Fitzroy Simpson as the Blues sought to consolidate - and even improve upon - their encouraging final position. In the end they finished fifth again and just missed out on European qualification, notably destroying eventual champions Leeds 4-0 and coming back to snatch a point in the Old Trafford derby after having been reduced to ten men by the sending off of full-back Neil Pointon. The season was however marred by a feud with striker Clive Allen whom Reid had wanted to transfer to Luton Town in the close season but the player refused to agree to the move. He was subsequently dropped to the reserve team and only recalled after a shortage of forwards in October caused Reid to select him as a substitute at Notts County. Allen inspired the Blues to come from behind in a stirring 3-1 win, but he was eventually sold to Chelsea a month or so later.
Despite growing supporter concern about the team’s style of play, which mostly consisted of either launching high balls for 6’4” striker Niall Quinn to either score from or feed on to a team-mate (usually White) or simply looking to feed the ball to the right wing for the pacy White to run onto and slot past the ‘keeper, Reid persisted with basing his tactics around a solid defence and industrious midfield backing up his two front men. He surprised many of the City faithful by moving out Steve Redmond, Neil Pointon and Michael Hughes during the close season and bringing in Rick Holden from Oldham to play on the left wing. City made a poor start to the new campaign - the first season of the new F.A. Premier League - but eventually finished ninth after the manager had returned to Wimbledon to snap up left-back Terry Phelan for another £2.5 million. Highlights included a second home 4-0 drubbing of Leeds and stirring 3-2 wins at Coventry City and at home to Blackburn Rovers after having fallen two goals behind in each case. The season will perhaps be best remembered for a 4-2 capitulation at home to Spurs in a home F.A Cup quarter-final on live T.V. in which a stunning Phelan break from deep in his own half saw him score a fabulous late consolation goal which inadvertently triggered a pitch invasion from the home areas and the presence of mounted police to protect the visiting supporters. There were also the first real instances of growing supporter disenchantment in the season’s last game, a 5-2 home embarrassment at the hands of Howard Kendall’s Everton in which young Welsh goalkeeper Martyn Margetson had a nightmare first team debut that saw him substituted at half-time with the Blues 3-1 down.
The pressure was on for Reid to show his mettle and answer his critics both inside and outside the club. He gave chairman Swales a list of preferred transfer targets for the coming season but was told on each occasion that either the player in question was unsuitable or that the club simply could not afford the transfer fee required. It became clear to all observers that there was a serious breakdown in Reid’s relationship with his chairman, who brought in former journalist John Maddock as chief executive and it later transpired that by now manager and chairman were no longer even speaking to each other. The only new signing for the coming campaign was a previously unknown Dutch midfielder, Alfons Groenendijk, who cost £25,000. City again made a disastrous start to the season, taking one point from the first four games and playing so poorly that, with no money left for reinforcements, they already seemed doomed to relegation. Swales acted by instructing Maddock to dismiss Reid and his assistant Sam Ellis. The experiment of the club’s first-ever player-manager had been a fascinating failure.
When Howard Kendall resigned as City’s manager to return to Everton in November 1990, he recommended to the Maine Road board that his successor should be player-coach Peter Reid, whom Kendall had brought to Maine Road almost a year earlier as he rebuilt a City side to stay in the First Division. Reid was appointed caretaker-manager and strangely became City’s first - and so far only - player-manager, with a brief to continue the excellent start the Blues had a made a year after returning to the top flight and staying up after a protracted relegation struggle. This he did in fine style as City finished fifth in the table, finishing above neighbours United for the first time in 13 years. Along the way there were several notable victories, including home and away wins over Nottingham Forest, a 2-1 victory at high-flying Leeds United and a 5-1 win at Aston Villa in which young home-grown striker David White bagged four goals. Reid had been an easy choice to succeed his mentor Kendall; not only did he have the former boss’ recommendation but the City fans had clamoured for his appointment, and of course he was a relatively cheap option for the board with no compensation to be paid to another club for relieving them of their manager.
With the financial backing of his chairman Peter Swales, Reid set about rebuilding the squad and brought in Keith Curle (for a club-record £2.5 million fee), Steve McMahon, Michel Vonk and Fitzroy Simpson as the Blues sought to consolidate - and even improve upon - their encouraging final position. In the end they finished fifth again and just missed out on European qualification, notably destroying eventual champions Leeds 4-0 and coming back to snatch a point in the Old Trafford derby after having been reduced to ten men by the sending off of full-back Neil Pointon. The season was however marred by a feud with striker Clive Allen whom Reid had wanted to transfer to Luton Town in the close season but the player refused to agree to the move. He was subsequently dropped to the reserve team and only recalled after a shortage of forwards in October caused Reid to select him as a substitute at Notts County. Allen inspired the Blues to come from behind in a stirring 3-1 win, but he was eventually sold to Chelsea a month or so later.
Despite growing supporter concern about the team’s style of play, which mostly consisted of either launching high balls for 6’4” striker Niall Quinn to either score from or feed on to a team-mate (usually White) or simply looking to feed the ball to the right wing for the pacy White to run onto and slot past the ‘keeper, Reid persisted with basing his tactics around a solid defence and industrious midfield backing up his two front men. He surprised many of the City faithful by moving out Steve Redmond, Neil Pointon and Michael Hughes during the close season and bringing in Rick Holden from Oldham to play on the left wing. City made a poor start to the new campaign - the first season of the new F.A. Premier League - but eventually finished ninth after the manager had returned to Wimbledon to snap up left-back Terry Phelan for another £2.5 million. Highlights included a second home 4-0 drubbing of Leeds and stirring 3-2 wins at Coventry City and at home to Blackburn Rovers after having fallen two goals behind in each case. The season will perhaps be best remembered for a 4-2 capitulation at home to Spurs in a home F.A Cup quarter-final on live T.V. in which a stunning Phelan break from deep in his own half saw him score a fabulous late consolation goal which inadvertently triggered a pitch invasion from the home areas and the presence of mounted police to protect the visiting supporters. There were also the first real instances of growing supporter disenchantment in the season’s last game, a 5-2 home embarrassment at the hands of Howard Kendall’s Everton in which young Welsh goalkeeper Martyn Margetson had a nightmare first team debut that saw him substituted at half-time with the Blues 3-1 down.
The pressure was on for Reid to show his mettle and answer his critics both inside and outside the club. He gave chairman Swales a list of preferred transfer targets for the coming season but was told on each occasion that either the player in question was unsuitable or that the club simply could not afford the transfer fee required. It became clear to all observers that there was a serious breakdown in Reid’s relationship with his chairman, who brought in former journalist John Maddock as chief executive and it later transpired that by now manager and chairman were no longer even speaking to each other. The only new signing for the coming campaign was a previously unknown Dutch midfielder, Alfons Groenendijk, who cost £25,000. City again made a disastrous start to the season, taking one point from the first four games and playing so poorly that, with no money left for reinforcements, they already seemed doomed to relegation. Swales acted by instructing Maddock to dismiss Reid and his assistant Sam Ellis. The experiment of the club’s first-ever player-manager had been a fascinating failure.