Reidy got Jo Lea to get a few fans together so he could talk about his plans and open communications with fans.
So I went down to Ryton today at 2pm and met up with John Haddon and Lionel Bird (from the official Supporters Club) and Mark Trevarrow (Chairman of the Sky Blue Trust). We watched training for a bit - yes they were still there at 2pm! (in fact they were still there at 3pm when we left). No ball work but a lot of stamina work. Pavel Srnicek was training with the keepers.
Anyway, we all sat down in the canteen for a cup of tea and Reidy told us of some of his plans and thoughts. He said he thought it was important to talk to the fans as it was our club and we'd still be here long after he was gone however he hoped he would be here for a long time. He knows what the club means to people and if he wasn't involved in football he'd be on the Kop at Anfield every game. Now I know it this sounds like cliched stuff but I think he really meant it. He met the fans in the same way at Sunderland and Leeds and being nosey I asked what had gone wrong at those clubs. He said he'd stayed too long at Sunderland and at Leeds a lot of the players had big egos and he just couldn't get them motivated.
Back to City and he said the finances were tight, as we all know. He's tried for a lot of players but has just been priced out of the market everytime. Sky Sports News was on in the corner and it showed that Pompey were about to offer £400 000 for Dwight Yorke and he just shrugged his shoulders knowing there was no way he could compete with that. The news about Paul Scholes retiring came up and Reidy was about to get on the phone and offer him £2000 a week until we realised it was just from international football!
I mentioned Peter Clarke, as many of us have thought about him as a possibilty, and he has tried to get him but David Moyes is so short of players at Everton that he won't let him go. Liverpool return from their pre-season tour today and he is still trying to get Steve Warnock. Benitez took him on tour to have a look at him but he still may not feature in his plans.
Reid is acutely aware of our small squad, particularly at the back. He has pulled players out of this weeks reserves game in case of injuries. Left back is a big concern as he feels that Stuart Giddings isn't quite ready to be thrust into the first team. He rates Andy Whing, which is good to hear and felt he did well against Norwich - all thats lacking from him is a bit of confidence. Reidy admits though that "If we get 4 injuries I'm sh***ing myself".
The use of different formations was discussed and Reid said that he'd tried 4-5-1 on Saturday but really needs a big man up front to make that work, a Shearer/Beattie type of player.
As for our chances this season he admits that there are some strong sides in the division and we need to stay injury free. More than anything though he wants to make City hard to beat, have a few ugly games but come out of it with something. He watched us a couple of times last season and thought we played some good football but when things weren't going so well in a game then we let things go just a bit too easily. As for Saturday he said "I'll make sure we beat them!" and you get the feeling that he really wants to turn his old club over on TV. The players are really looking forward to the game apparently.
There was also an interesting point when he said he had been asked by the BBC to do some part time work on a Sunday night and how did we feel about that. He said that he saw one manager on Sky every Monday night and thought that was too much, especially during the week. I said that people fell into 2 camps, one being that he's at a game watching players, meeting people and raising the profile of the club, the second being that his job was at City and he should concentrate on that. Ultimately though it depends on how the club is doing.
I think the concerns we have are shared by him too - the squad is too small, we 're short at the back in terms of numbers and short up front in terms of height. To be fair to him it was his idea to meet us which he didn't have to do. He also said if we ever wanted to ask him something just to get in touch (which you can guarantee I'll be doing!).