REID: THE WRITING'S ON THE WALL
Pictures of Thailand's head coach Peter Reid furiously scribbling notes whilst ensconced in the Directors Box at St Andrew's last weekend would indicate it's just a matter of time before the jovial scouser makes his way back to the promised land of the Premier League.
The lure of being number two to Tony Pulis at Stoke City seems stronger than attempting to guide Thailand to the 2014 World Cup, and a reported US$ 1.5 million four-year contract to boot.
Reid took up his post just 13 months ago. At that time Thailand was languishing at 111th in the FIFA world rankings. Today's they're in 117th place, having won nine, drawn four and lost four of his 17 games at the helm.
Peter, and I'll call him by his first name as I've found him to be very approachable and amenable on the two occasions I've met him, has been seemingly linked with almost every vacancy to arise during the summer. Surely it was only a matter of time before he got the call from home. As Liverpool's Jamie Carragher said after his sides friendly here last month: ".. I think his record in Premier League football is outstanding and I do think it's quite strange that he's had to come out here to get a job."
His contract with Thailand will likely have an escape clause that covers eventualities such as the one we're seeing now. I hope it also includes some level of compensation to the Thai Football Association.
1 comments:
This was fairly inevitable at some point, so I doubt anyone at the Thai FA is particularly surprised.
As a manager with premiership experience he is significantly more qualified than the typical nomadic British coach that manages international teams across the world.
That said, his reputation took at hit after his stint at Coventry and he was never likely to get a major management role this summer given the calibre of unemployed managers he was up against.
He will see the Stoke job as an excellent opportunity to rebuild his reputation at home, with a view to moving on to a management role in due course.
For the record, I think he's a good coach but not a great manager, so this job ideal. However, once-a-manager-always-a-manger, he's ambitious and will want to get back in the saddle.
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