Peter Reid on the 'lives that were devastated' by Plymouth Argyle's administration

Peter Reid on the 'lives that were devastated' by Plymouth Argyle's administration

in his new autobiography Cheer Up Peter Reid, the former Pilgrims' manager talks of the difficulties he faced at Home Park

Peter Reid was proud to play his ‘small part’ in Plymouth Argyle history at a time where everybody had to pull together in order to keep the club alive.

The administration months of the Pilgrims' history is well documented and it was Reid who was tasked with the job of trying to keep the side in League One when everything was falling apart away from the pitch.

Reid was sold a dream that never came to fruition back when he was appointed in June 2010, with talks of a brand new stadium under the regime of Sir Roy Gardener.

In his new autobiography, Cheer Up Peter Reid, the 61-year-old looks back at the highs and lows of his career and describes it as a football book with plenty of social awareness.

Reid’s time with the Pilgrims is heavily featured in chapter 16 of the book, Crisis Clubs.

In it he talks about how good things seemed to be on the surface when he first arrived at Home Park, but it didn’t take long for him to realise all was not well.

“I met Sir Roy Gardner, who had been a director of Man United before investing in Plymouth, and he outlined his vision for the club which included plans to build a new stadium as part of England’s 2018 World Cup bid,” the book reads.

“On the surface it seemed exciting but the reality was different. My fears, that all was not as it seemed, grew just a few days after taking charge.

“I tried to use the club credit card to book a flight to the south coast from Manchester and it was declined.

“During pre-season I had to accept pretty much any offer that came in for our players, but it paled into insignificance in comparison to what followed in March 2011 when the club went into administration, with debts of £13m.

“Suddenly there were winding up orders and the future of the club was in doubt.”

The financial side of administration was clear for all to see, with media outlets including the Herald documenting the troubles as they unfolded.

It was the human struggle, a struggle that could not be understood by simply reading words in a newspaper, that really stood in the mind of Reid.

It wasn’t just footballers that were going without pay, office staff were losing their jobs and the individual financial implications continued to grow.

Speaking about his book to Herald Sport, Reid said it was that feeling of unity between the staff and fans that came shooting back into the former England international’s head when he got to writing about the Argyle stage of his managerial career.

“I was at Argyle when the administrator came in and sacked people who had mortgages and whose lives were devastated,” Reid said.

“There are human parts as well as the football parts.


“It is out there when people are in tears after losing their jobs and don’t know how they are going to pay their mortgage.

“Football clubs or businesses that run and then they fold, it is the human cost as well as the financial that comes to everyone.

“It was not easy recalling but it was a necessity because that is the way it was.

“I have played in big football matches, I have won things, but when you talk about the human element, a life, football pales into insignificance.”

Two acts Reid is perhaps most remembered for by Argyle fans, are his decision to sell one of his FA Cup medals and to pay a heating bill when staff were having to wear coats to stay warm in the offices.

To Reid these things were a no-brainer which is a testament to his character and in a world where football isn’t always painted in the best light, stories like these should not be forgotten.

Asked about that time, Reid said: “I walked into the Portakabin at the time and everyone had coats on.

“I asked what was going on and they said that the oil had run out, I think it was.

“So I got my credit card out and made a payment and we were having a function where I put one of my FA Cup losers’ medals up.

“It wasn’t difficult because there are more important things out there and people are important and football clubs are important because they are part of the community.

“Everybody rallied together, the Green Army’s support was absolutely amazing.

“I’ll tell you what it did, I mean it was a sad occasion for the club to go into administration, but it showed you what the club means to people in the community.

“And I know that if you have that support clubs like Plymouth Argyle will never die.

“I think you learn that football clubs, even when you get up there in the Premiership with the money that is out there and having different owners, if you haven’t got the ordinary working class person coming through those turnstiles and supporting the clubs, football clubs wouldn’t exist.

“Even though I had a difficult time at Argyle, I tell you what, it was a fantastic club and I am glad I went down there.

“The pleasing thing for me is that the club kept going, you know what it means to the community down there. It is one of them traditionally massive football clubs.”

Cheer Up Peter Reid, Trinity Mirror, RRP £18.99. Ebook also available.

I was always impressed by how he could peel bananas with his feet.

That's quite funny for you, Angers
I thought he did a good job given the awful predicament we were in and the terrible owners at the time. He was just a pawn. Not much has changed sadly, apart from a lot more rust on the horseshoe. Maybe he should spend his money on that, the main asset of one of his businesses that actually makes money, rather than trying to build yet another new office block business venture in HHP.

"It is one of them traditionally massive football clubs.”

LOL The sleeping giant is now in the hands of a devious investment manager and his equally suspect, janner wannabes. Still waiting for a handsome prince or even a Harry bloody Redknapp to provide the kiss of life.

Its always a shame for me that such a great player turned into such a figure of fun. He was a lynchpin at one of the best English club sides of the 80's, winning an FA cup, 2 league championships and The cup winners cup. As a manager he did well at both Man City and Sunderland at a time when neither club would be touched with a barge pole and some of the football in the first half of his season at Argyle was pretty decent.

Seven years on and the end is not yet in sight.

Earwegoagain wrote:

Seven years on and the end is not yet in sight.

Could be added that the nightmare to come has not even started yet......this fella will throw his toys outa his pram when hhp is derailed which quite frankly is 95% assured already

Hugh Watt wrote:

Its always a shame for me that such a great player turned into such a figure of fun. He was a lynchpin at one of the best English club sides of the 80's, winning an FA cup, 2 league championships and The cup winners cup. As a manager he did well at both Man City and Sunderland at a time when neither club would be touched with a barge pole and some of the football in the first half of his season at Argyle was pretty decent.

Those of us old enough to recall the '86 world cup will never forget how good a player he was.

It was typically shambolic campaign to start with. We lost 1-0 to Portugal and then drew 0-0 with Morrocco. It was all but over. Luckily, somehow, we fashioned a team that went from hapless to exciting - mostly by not passing sideways all the time. Bryan Robson dislocated his shoulder and Ray Wilkins was sent off for throwing the ball at a ref, sort of, and Reid and Steve Hodge came in to replace them. The team knitted together immediately. John Barnes played like a world beater, Lineker started tapping in goals with regularity until he won the Golden Boot and Peter Beardsley buzzed around.

It took brilliance and cheating such as we had never seen before from Maradona to stop us and even then there was that clearance from under the crossbar when Lineker looked nailed on to save the match...

Reid was apart of all that was good in that campaign. Admittedly he was limited and had little pace but he read the game, could pass the ball and he was as hard as nails. He'll never be remembered like a Hoddle or Le Tissier but in his way, and he knew his limitations, he was a great player.

There's not many world cups we could have won but that was one of them.

Argyle increasingly look like a 'big club' with small ideas.

I have nothing but respect for Peter Reid and wish him well.

Me too, yet again an ex Argyle manager has been tarnished because fans expect any manager to excel whilst ignoring the limitations of things like administration and massive debts. Reid did as well as anybody could in the circumstances I supported Reid fully and was sorry to see him go, I realised then as I do now with Adams that you can only swim so far with your hands tied behind your back.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Hugh Watt wrote:

Its always a shame for me that such a great player turned into such a figure of fun. He was a lynchpin at one of the best English club sides of the 80's, winning an FA cup, 2 league championships and The cup winners cup. As a manager he did well at both Man City and Sunderland at a time when neither club would be touched with a barge pole and some of the football in the first half of his season at Argyle was pretty decent.

Those of us old enough to recall the '86 world cup will never forget how good a player he was.

It was typically shambolic campaign to start with. We lost 1-0 to Portugal and then drew 0-0 with Morrocco. It was all but over. Luckily, somehow, we fashioned a team that went from hapless to exciting - mostly by not passing sideways all the time. Bryan Robson dislocated his shoulder and Ray Wilkins was sent off for throwing the ball at a ref, sort of, and Reid and Steve Hodge came in to replace them. The team knitted together immediately. John Barnes played like a world beater, Lineker started tapping in goals with regularity until he won the Golden Boot and Peter Beardsley buzzed around.

It took brilliance and cheating such as we had never seen before from Maradona to stop us and even then there was that clearance from under the crossbar when Lineker looked nailed on to save the match...

Reid was apart of all that was good in that campaign. Admittedly he was limited and had little pace but he read the game, could pass the ball and he was as hard as nails. He'll never be remembered like a Hoddle or Le Tissier but in his way, and he knew his limitations, he was a great player.

There's not many world cups we could have won but that was one of them.

History shows that Liverpool were the team of the 80's but by 1985 they had sold Souness and hadn't really worked out how to play without him and were hopelessly reliant on Ian Rush. Everton between 84-87 were an incredible side, not entirely dissimilar in set up to to Luggys first promotion winning side. A side built on graft that could play a bit too.

Arguably the best goalkeeper in the country, if not the world at that time. 2 attacking full backs with that complimented perfectly with the wide midfielders in front of them. 2 terriers in the middle that could also play a bit and you had the work rate of Graeme Sharp (bastard) the goals of Lineker or Gray and Kevin Sheedys left foot. But Reid was definitely its heartbeat, shocking he only won 13 England caps, Neil Webb won more ffs!

Everton for their part had won the league in 85 but been denied the chance to play in the EC due to Heysel, they should have won the league again in 86-86 but managed to bottle it, they should have won the first merseyside FA cup final but bottled it again. They won the league again the following year but the genius behind it all left to pursue European football and that was it. Liverpool sold Ian Rush, replaced him with Barnes, Beardsley and Aldridge and became one of the best club football sides of the century.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Hugh Watt wrote:

Its always a shame for me that such a great player turned into such a figure of fun. He was a lynchpin at one of the best English club sides of the 80's, winning an FA cup, 2 league championships and The cup winners cup. As a manager he did well at both Man City and Sunderland at a time when neither club would be touched with a barge pole and some of the football in the first half of his season at Argyle was pretty decent.

Those of us old enough to recall the '86 world cup will never forget how good a player he was.

It was typically shambolic campaign to start with. We lost 1-0 to Portugal and then drew 0-0 with Morrocco. It was all but over. Luckily, somehow, we fashioned a team that went from hapless to exciting - mostly by not passing sideways all the time. Bryan Robson dislocated his shoulder and Ray Wilkins was sent off for throwing the ball at a ref, sort of, and Reid and Steve Hodge came in to replace them. The team knitted together immediately. John Barnes played like a world beater, Lineker started tapping in goals with regularity until he won the Golden Boot and Peter Beardsley buzzed around.

It took brilliance and cheating such as we had never seen before from Maradona to stop us and even then there was that clearance from under the crossbar when Lineker looked nailed on to save the match...

Reid was apart of all that was good in that campaign. Admittedly he was limited and had little pace but he read the game, could pass the ball and he was as hard as nails. He'll never be remembered like a Hoddle or Le Tissier but in his way, and he knew his limitations, he was a great player.

There's not many world cups we could have won but that was one of them.

Those of us with even longer memories saw Peter Reid playing for an excellent Bolton team in the mid 1970's who always seemed to just miss out on promotion to the old first division. Allardyce would have been playing for them as well as people like Peter Thompson, pacy ex Liverpool winger and an excellent finisher called Neil Whatmore. Very good side with Reid at the heart of midfield and making things tick.

Very underrated international player, Reid. Glueing the team together, making others play, is where it's at, and Reid's passing was consistent and effective, let alone his tenacity. Not quite so effective at those through balls that perhaps Charlie Adam was a more recent exponent of, and not the attacking prowess of another tough consistent passer, Alan Ball, but he's definitely a footballer I remember as top class. In Argyle terms, passing wise, I would say he was a mix between the classy but more fragile forward roving Steve McCall and the defensive holding Nallis. Not in other ways of course. Players that consistently read the game and pick those mid range passes accurately and with the right weight are few and far between. Made everyone tick. Every team needs a Peter Reid, but it's flair that catches the eye at international level. That wasn't Reid, and he couldn't do a Wilkins or a Robson.

I’d say Reid was more effective than Wilkins and Robson. Wilkins looked the part with his silky sideways passes, Robson acted the part , captain marvel and all that. Reid actually achieved, what did Robson and Wilkins actually win?