Andy Reid

Andrew Matthew Reid (born 29 July 1982) is an Irish professional football manager and former football player who played as a midfielder.

He is currently the assistant manager of Premier league club Nottingham Forest.

He turned professional in August 1999 making his debut for Nottingham Forest on 29 November 2000 against Sheffield United.

He turned professional in August 1999, and scored on his first team debut on 29 November 2000 against Sheffield United.

In the 2001–02 season Reid failed to score a goal, although he played in 31 games.

Reid scored his first goal for Sunderland at the end of March in a 2–1 win over West Ham United, his 95th minute volley earning Sunderland their first back-to-back Premier League victory since December 2001.

He eventually scored a goal on 15 May 2003 against Sheffield United in the 2003 Football League Division One play-off semi-final, although Nottingham Forest lost the match 4–3.

(5–4 on aggregate).

He scored two goals in the 3–1 win over Coventry City on 27 August 2003.

Reid then scored 13 goals in the 2003–04 season, finishing as Nottingham Forest's top scorer of the season, and named in the PFA Division One Team of the Year.

He handed in a transfer request at the start of August 2004 saying "I feel I have no other choice than to formally state my desire to leave the club".

Reid left the Nottinghamshire club having scored 21 goals in 144 appearances.

Reid moved from Forest to Tottenham in 2005, then to Charlton Athletic in 2006, Sunderland in 2008 and Blackpool in 2011.

After protracted negotiations, lasting for the bulk of his last season at the club, Reid completed his move from Forest to Tottenham on the last day of the January 2005 transfer window.

He was joined by Michael Dawson for a combined fee of £8 million.

He made his debut in a 3–1 win over Portsmouth on 5 February 2005, with Martin Jol saying "Andy Reid also did well on his debut, and you worry a bit how new players will cope with the Premiership".

Despite a promising start Reid failed to recapture the form he had shown at Forest and had to wait until May before netting for his new club, coming against Aston Villa in a 5–1 win at the end of the season.

Making only 20 starts in 26 appearances he scored just one goal for Tottenham leading him to be listed by one journalist as one of the worst signings of the January Transfer market.

Reid joined Charlton Athletic for a fee of around £3 million in August 2006.

He scored his first goal for Charlton against Everton on 25 November 2006.

Charlton were relegated at the end of the season to the Championship.

Reid scored both goals against Norwich City in a 2–0 win in September 2007, from two penalties in the space of two minutes.

"The captain Andy Reid was brilliant, he was driving us on all night", Alan Pardew said about his performance that day.

Reid's form had not gone unnoticed and he was eventually sold having played 40 games and scored 9 goals in all competitions during his two seasons at Charlton.

At the end of January 2008, on the last day of the transfer window, Reid joined Sunderland in a three and a half-year deal worth £5m, making the step back up to the Premier League.

Sunderland's Greg Halford went in the other direction in a six-month loan spell as part of the deal.

Reid explained that he wanted Sunderland to be challenging for European places, and will not be happy fighting relegation season-after-season.

He made his début at the start of February 2008 against Wigan Athletic, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute and assisted Daryl Murphy by playing a cross field pass for him to score a 25 yd goal.

He scored his first goal of the 2008–09 campaign with a header in a 4–0 win over West Bromwich Albion.

Reid scored his first goals of the 2009/2010 campaign with a brace against Norwich City in the League Cup – where Sunderland went on to win 4–1.

In July 2011 he signed a two-year deal back at Nottingham Forest.

He has also represented the Republic of Ireland internationally.

Reid was born in Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland.

He went to school at Synge Street CBS, Dublin.

Football was in his blood as his father Bill played for St Patrick's Athletic and his uncle Victor played for Shelbourne.

He started his footballing career with Irish youth clubs – Lourdes Celtic and Cherry Orchard.

He turned down Manchester United and Arsenal to sign for Nottingham Forest.

Openly declared a socialist, Andy has a Che Guevara tattoo on his left arm, and a James Connolly tattoo on his right arm.

Reid started his career with the Nottingham Forest youth academy, after joining from Cherry Orchard.

Reid said "I chose Forest years ago because they made me feel wanted, because they had more time for me as a young kid than I felt at Arsenal or United".