Speaking on a recent episode of the Last Word On Spurs podcast, Andy Reid discussed why he decided to join Nottingham Forest ahead of Manchester United and Arsenal.
Graduating from the Forest U18 side to the first team back in 2000, before going on to make his debut for the club as an 18-year-old in December of the same year, Reid went on to feature 266 times over two spells at Forest, scoring 39 goals and providing 48 assists along the way.
Over his career, the former Republic of Ireland international also played for Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland, Charlton Athletic, Sheffield United and Blackpool, making a total of 427 first-team appearances, scoring 57 goals and providing 76 assists.
And, while speaking to the Last Word On Spurs podcast, Reid revealed the reason behind his decision to join Nottingham Forest ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson’s and Arsene Wenger’s sides.
He said: “With the greatest respect to [those] clubs, when I went over there on trials it felt like you were just another number. There was probably 25, 30, 40 players over there on trials on half-term breaks when you would go over. And I never really felt that connection.
“On the other hand, when I went to Forest, from a really young age when I went over on trials, I went in and I was training with some of the youth team players and I felt like I was really part of the club.
“There wasn’t 40, 50 players on trial and it didn’t feel like a cattle market, I suppose. I felt appreciated, I felt valued and I felt that these were the people and this was the club that I wanted to come to.”
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TIF Thoughts on Andy Reid’s comments regarding why he joined Nottingham Forest…
From Reid’s comments, it would appear that the reason the winger ultimately decided to join Forest ahead of United and Arsenal was because of how valued Forest made him feel, even as a young player, rather than just one of a large number of trialists the club had taken on, as had happened elsewhere.
And, considering Reid spent the majority of his career at Forest, and posted the best goalscoring returns over the course of his footballing career while at the club, it goes without saying that the attention Forest gave the now 38-year-old as a youngster was certainly repaid by Reid.