Former Nottingham Forest midfielder Andy Reid has admitted that he let down his old manager Stuart Pearce during their time together at the City Ground.
The two men were together at Forest during Pearce’s time in charge between the summer of 2014 and February 2015 when he was sacked, and Reid has some regrets about his conduct during that time.
“I really struggled after I got injured, you know,” he told talkSPORT. “I didn’t feel that I was probably going to make it back and I was struggling mentally at the time.
“In some ways I probably let Stuart down a little bit around the place, because I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to maybe help him and I probably should have done it a little bit more. So I feel like I’ve probably let him down, as did a lot of people.”
“I let Stuart down around the place, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.”
“I struggled to come to terms with the fact I probably wouldn’t play again.”@AndyReidXI blames himself for letting down Stuart Pearce at #NFFC ? pic.twitter.com/hjYjeWRb4Z
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) February 19, 2019
OPINION
This is interesting from Reid and refreshingly candid from a former player. Obviously something went wrong during Pearce’s time at Forest and from what Reid says it sounds as if the manager didn’t receive enough help from his senior players during a time when the club had a very young squad. They got off to an excellent start during Pearce’s half season in charge but faded fast, and perhaps that was because of a lack of leadership from some of the more experienced members of the squad. As Reid eluded to, he was probably struggling mentally at the time and wasn’t able to be the leader that he should have been during a tough period with injuries. Credit to him for saying that because a lot of footballers wouldn’t be so honest about their struggles. Ultimately Pearce paid the price for a dramatic loss of form, but Reid’s insight helps explain perhaps why that occurred.