Southampton fans can thank their ex-secretary Brian Truscott for giving them the chance to see the ageing midfield talents of Peter Reid for it was he who suggested Saints beleaguered manager, Ian Branfoot, make the SOS call to Peter in October 1993. He had just been relieved of his player managerial duties at Maine Road and Southampton had made a woeful start to the season losing eight out of nine games so with Peter Reid still accredited with being a driving force, even at 37, it was a well-timed gamble for both sides.

He was vastly experienced having been one of the top midfield grafters in British football with Bolton and Everton during the 70s and 80s and was a man who could never be accused of going missing.

In the seven League matches in which he featured Saints beat Spurs, Chelsea and Newcastle so the gamble paid off, but not to the extent it saved Branfoot’s job and once the ex-Reading manager had packed his bags, Peter quickly followed him out of the door.

More English managerial appointments followed including eight years being told to cheer up at Sunderland, but after being sacked by Coventry in January 2005 he spent a few years as a Sky TV pundit and doing some property development in Bolton before spending a year in the Far East as the manager of Thailand. He became Plymouth’s manager for the 2010-11 season, but when they went into administration and then got relegated, he was relieved of his duties. In February 2013, aged 56, he offered his playing services to FC Easington of the Peterlee and District Sunday League and then the following year he returned to India for a second time, this time on the west coast, although he was back in Lancashire in 2016 assisting the backroom room staff at Bolton. Never shy of an opinion Peter made his political views very clear in the 2019 General Election.