King Tubby
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Not sure if someone has already posted this or not, but this was in Thursdays 'Sydney Morning Herald'...
Reid emerges from gloom to secure Brighton future
Date: January 27 2005
The Australian youngster once considered better than Harry Kewell is now ready to prove it, writes Michael Cockerill.
Three years after he disappeared off the radar, Paul Reid has reappeared to launch a belated claim to an international career.
When Reid was a teenager at the NSW Academy at Parklea, coach David Lee regarded him as the best of a bunch that included Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton. Ten years later Reid, 25, believes he is ready to fulfil his early promise on the back of a purple patch of form in England's second tier competition for unfashionable Brighton and Hove Albion.
It has been a long haul for Reid to reach the stage where he feels optimistic about his future. Talent was never the problem. Confidence, whether his own or from others, was. Until now.
A change from central midfield to either right fullback or wingback - instigated on a hunch by Brighton manager Mark McGhee - has unlocked Reid's potential. The switch has coincided with a rise up the table by the Seagulls, Reid is playing regular first-team football for the first time since he left Australia, and by the end of the week he hopes to sign a new two-year deal. What a difference a year makes.
"Twelve months ago playing for Australia was a pipedream," he said. "Now I'm so much more confident. I'm playing the best football of my career, I'm the fittest I've ever been, and I believe - fingers crossed - that I'm finally ready to play for my country.
"I'd like to think I'm through the hardest part, although I know there is plenty of hard work to come. To be honest, there were times when I wondered whether it was ever going to work out, whether I should just come home and get on with my life. Maybe it was pride that kept me going, I don't know. But I'm glad I stuck it out.
"I like to prove people wrong, I always have. When I was a kid, people said I was too small. When I got over here, people said I wasn't strong enough. I spent two years at Bradford, and I played seven games. For eight months, I didn't even train with the first team. I was very despondent. But then the chance came up to come to Brighton, and I jumped at it. Mark McGhee basically saved my career."
If all goes to plan, that career should continue its rise.
As a junior, Reid's composure on the ball, and the breadth of his passing, stood out. When he moved to the national league his progress continued at a healthy rate and there seemed no limit to what he could achieve.
It was Reid's goal that ensured extra-time for the subsequent shoot-out in an epic grand-final victory for Wollongong Wolves against Perth Glory in 2000.
A move to the English Premier League beckoned, but after agreeing to terms with Bolton Wanderers the deal was scuppered by Wollongong. Reid returned home to play out the 2001 season, and won another title with the Wolves. He did at least get his first Socceroos call-up, but failed to get off the bench.
Determined to fulfil his boyhood dream, and having completed his radiography degree, Reid left for England in late 2001, but his choice of club - Bradford City - proved disastrous. While his childhood peers Kewell and Emerton went from strength to strength, he stalled in the obscurity of reserve-team football.
The move south to Brighton has changed everything. At the end of his first season Brighton took 28,000 fans to Cardiff and won the promotion play-off against Bristol City, and Reid's performance off the bench convinced McGhee he had an uncut diamond on his hands. This season has proved him right.
"When we were kids, Harry was completely focused on his football, and Brett wasn't much different," Reid said. "But I finished my HSC and went on to uni, because my parents always drummed into me that I needed something to fall back on.
"Now, I suppose, I've got some catching up to do. I'd like to think I'll end up in the premiership, and in the national team. I'm still ambitious, I want to play at the highest level I can, and it doesn't see so unrealistic any more."
Reid emerges from gloom to secure Brighton future
Date: January 27 2005
The Australian youngster once considered better than Harry Kewell is now ready to prove it, writes Michael Cockerill.
Three years after he disappeared off the radar, Paul Reid has reappeared to launch a belated claim to an international career.
When Reid was a teenager at the NSW Academy at Parklea, coach David Lee regarded him as the best of a bunch that included Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton. Ten years later Reid, 25, believes he is ready to fulfil his early promise on the back of a purple patch of form in England's second tier competition for unfashionable Brighton and Hove Albion.
It has been a long haul for Reid to reach the stage where he feels optimistic about his future. Talent was never the problem. Confidence, whether his own or from others, was. Until now.
A change from central midfield to either right fullback or wingback - instigated on a hunch by Brighton manager Mark McGhee - has unlocked Reid's potential. The switch has coincided with a rise up the table by the Seagulls, Reid is playing regular first-team football for the first time since he left Australia, and by the end of the week he hopes to sign a new two-year deal. What a difference a year makes.
"Twelve months ago playing for Australia was a pipedream," he said. "Now I'm so much more confident. I'm playing the best football of my career, I'm the fittest I've ever been, and I believe - fingers crossed - that I'm finally ready to play for my country.
"I'd like to think I'm through the hardest part, although I know there is plenty of hard work to come. To be honest, there were times when I wondered whether it was ever going to work out, whether I should just come home and get on with my life. Maybe it was pride that kept me going, I don't know. But I'm glad I stuck it out.
"I like to prove people wrong, I always have. When I was a kid, people said I was too small. When I got over here, people said I wasn't strong enough. I spent two years at Bradford, and I played seven games. For eight months, I didn't even train with the first team. I was very despondent. But then the chance came up to come to Brighton, and I jumped at it. Mark McGhee basically saved my career."
If all goes to plan, that career should continue its rise.
As a junior, Reid's composure on the ball, and the breadth of his passing, stood out. When he moved to the national league his progress continued at a healthy rate and there seemed no limit to what he could achieve.
It was Reid's goal that ensured extra-time for the subsequent shoot-out in an epic grand-final victory for Wollongong Wolves against Perth Glory in 2000.
A move to the English Premier League beckoned, but after agreeing to terms with Bolton Wanderers the deal was scuppered by Wollongong. Reid returned home to play out the 2001 season, and won another title with the Wolves. He did at least get his first Socceroos call-up, but failed to get off the bench.
Determined to fulfil his boyhood dream, and having completed his radiography degree, Reid left for England in late 2001, but his choice of club - Bradford City - proved disastrous. While his childhood peers Kewell and Emerton went from strength to strength, he stalled in the obscurity of reserve-team football.
The move south to Brighton has changed everything. At the end of his first season Brighton took 28,000 fans to Cardiff and won the promotion play-off against Bristol City, and Reid's performance off the bench convinced McGhee he had an uncut diamond on his hands. This season has proved him right.
"When we were kids, Harry was completely focused on his football, and Brett wasn't much different," Reid said. "But I finished my HSC and went on to uni, because my parents always drummed into me that I needed something to fall back on.
"Now, I suppose, I've got some catching up to do. I'd like to think I'll end up in the premiership, and in the national team. I'm still ambitious, I want to play at the highest level I can, and it doesn't see so unrealistic any more."
Interesting stuff
