Peter Reid - Pilgrim

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Peter Reid - Pilgrim

Postby ant london » Thu Apr 07, 2011 12:00 pm

great stuff here by old monkey heid

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'This club gets hold of you,' says the Plymouth Argyle manager Peter Reid

A few years ago Peter Reid told me money was once his God, but it had gradually revealed itself to be a false deity and he no longer worshipped at avarice's altar.

Considering the then Sunderland manager earned a couple of million a year, the words "easy" and "platitude" sprang to mind.

Such cynicism did him a considerable disservice. In a profession where too many individuals are motivated primarily by greed Reid, now in charge of Plymouth Argyle, is a shining exception.

For a fourth consecutive month Reid is working without pay at a debt-ridden club so impoverished that the lights are on and the radiators warm only courtesy of his willingness to fund four-figure electricity and heating bills. To shrug and say the former England midfielder can afford it is to miss the point.

Reid's job involves holding the Pilgrims together until a new owner is found while also endeavouring to overcome a 10-point deduction incurred for entering administration and which has handed them near certain relegation. All this involves inspiring his threadbare squad, reliant on PFA loans after going unpaid since Christmas, to continue playing without pay.

The sheer force of the 54-year-old Merseysider's personality ensured that Rory Fallon, a New Zealand striker, recently rejected an income-guaranteeing loan move to Bristol Rovers in order to continue fighting Plymouth's corner.

Argyle's cause may look lost as they sit bottom of League One but in supporting it Reid, whose tenacious midfield talents helped Everton to the 1985 and 1987 league titles among other things, has helped stir football's slumbering soul.

Despite lacking previous connections with the area, Reid's love of the game and respect for a famous old club and their fans transcends parochial preferences. "If I'd known what I know now I might not have come here last June, but this club gets hold of you," he says. "The important thing is to maintain our dignity and work ethic – and to remember that Plymouth Argyle matters more than individuals."

If many Devonians believe Reid's actions to be among the most defiantly heroic in their locale since Sir Francis Drake insisted on completing his game of bowls on the Hoe before seeing off the Spanish Armada, others are amazed that the rough-tongued star of BBC's 1998 documentary series Premier Passions is proving to be such a diamond.

Swearing tirades punctuated Premier Passions – one high-velocity expletive blitz aimed at Chris Waddle lingers in the memory – and depicted a worryingly one-dimensional bully but Reid's often complicated and, sometimes, contradictory character has always defied easy caricatures.

Although an underachieving Sunderland player was once reduced to a shivering, pale wreck when, having missed the team bus after an away game he discovered the manager had volunteered to drive him home, Reid generally proved to be much nicer than advertised.

On leaving Wearside he invited a local reporter to an alcohol-fuelled farewell dinner before, late in the evening, happily swapping his Armani shirt for our man's M&S number. It is hard to imagine Arsène Wenger doing likewise.

There was also the time when Michael Gray spent several morale-restoring days as his house guest after the distraught left-back has missed a decisive playoff final penalty for Sunderland against Charlton.

Some less saintly cameos leaven plenty of other Good Samaritan deeds but for every skeleton in the cupboard there are probably at least three beneficiaries of Reid's generosity.

It comes spiced with a sharply robust humour honed while playing for Huyton boys, coached by his old friend, the dramatist Alan Bleasdale. When Newcastle fans dubbed Reid "Monkey Heed" before waving "Save the Chimp" placards in his face, he shared the joke, tackling the Great North Run wearing a T-shirt adorned by a primate's visage.

A personal watershed came in Bangkok, where he was Thailand's coach. Suddenly, more genteel people and a fixation with preserving public face meant swearing and shouting at players was taboo. Doing things differently became de rigueur.

Plymouth has provided a culture shock of a different kind, but no one is better equipped to combat it than football's unofficial manager of the year.
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Re: Peter Reid - Pilgrim

Postby paulmclaren » Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:30 pm

He's a top man Reidy, always enjoyed listening to him when he's on the box or whatever.
Done a very good job where ever he's been, mainly on a shoestring.
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Re: Peter Reid - Pilgrim

Postby Tokyo Blue » Thu Apr 07, 2011 5:15 pm

I have got very good mate who's a Plymouth fan, so I hope they do alright for him. I've not a lot of time for reidy, I'm afraid.
Your right leg I like; I've got nothing against your right leg. The trouble is neither have you.
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Re: Peter Reid - Pilgrim

Postby Goataldo » Thu Apr 07, 2011 5:49 pm

"Peter Reid peels bananas with his feet" - funny Toon song.

Good on him though. Nice article.
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