On This Day (31st March 1995): Peter Reid’s Gamble – Steering Sunderland to Safety
Following defeat at Barnsley in late March of this year, relegation seemed a very real possibility, especially with the threat of a points deduction about to be handed down. Was the sword of Damocles hanging over the club?
Following a defeat at Barnsley on 24 March that further exacerbated our perilous situation in the division, Bob Murray stepped back up to the Chairman’s role. His first decision publicly back at the helm of the beleaguered ship was to replace Mick Buxton as manager. Depending on which version of events you read, vice-chairman Graham Wood had already accepted the provisional resignation of Buxton to enact at the end of the season.
A straight and honest character, this was an honourable gesture from the likeable Buxton. He was not for deserting whilst there was still a chance Sunderland might go down, but he had probably arrived at a point where he realised he had taken this team as far as he could in the current situation. Bob Murray had spent several months scouring the country for a manager, but the Sunderland job had become a hot seat with a very small window to effect positive change at this time for the incumbent!
Having decided Peter Reid might be his man, Murray invested a bit of time weighing up whether he and Reid could work together. Reid’s relationship with his previous chairman, Peter Swales, at Man City, had turned very sour at the finish, despite two fifth-placed finishes in successive seasons. Murray might have been concerned about Reid’s alleged ferocity and stubbornness.
Reid had been out of work for eighteen months since getting the sack from his first managerial post at City. The appointment of Peter Reid would represent a gamble by any known metric! Reid too had a decision to make.
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