Reid said to the club website: "It is particularly disappointing because I thought we’d done everything properly and given the boy what he wanted and he’s turned it down. But it is his prerogative.
"Dion intimated to me on Monday evening that he wanted to leave Leicester and that he was available. So I made a call to their manager Craig Levein who gave me permission to talk to Dion. I thought we had a deal going, the Chairman backed me financially and we offered him the same deal as he is on at Leicester.
"Then for some reason, Dion decided to stay there. The reason we have been given by his agent is that he is waiting for a Premier League club to come in, which obviously means he’ll have to wait until January. So we gave him the option of playing for us and if a Premier League club came in we would have given him permission to speak to them but that was turned down and the deal is obviously dead now."
"If you look at the teams we are putting out, there are a lot of lads in their early twenties and it’s difficult for them to keep up a certain level of performance, so we’re just trying to add a bit of experience.
"Some of our experienced players like Stern John and Tim Sherwood are injured and I’ve had to rest the likes of Richard Shaw and Steve Staunton. It’s something we’re just trying to add."
Rumours now abound that Reid wanted Dublin to sign and deflect some of the abuse metered out to him by unhappy supporters who have been calling for his head following the club's poor start to the season.