Shaun Reid will be guest of honour at the match on Friday 7th April entertaining hospitality diners of his two spells at the Dale during the 1980’s/90’s. Should be very interesting including how he was sent off on a stretcher and his battles against the Wimbledon Mafia
DOB: 13th October 1965
Dale debut: 14th January 1984 – Crewe Alexandra 1-0
Last game: 11th March 1995 – Northampton Town 0-0
Also played for: Preston North End, York City, Bury, Chester City, Leigh RMI Managed at: Prescot Cables, Warrington Town
Time at Dale: Shaun made 289 appearances over two spells scoring 19 goals. His first spell started with a 1-0 win over Crewe Alexandra, 14th January 1984, before a transfer to York City, last match against Colchester United on 16th December 1988. Second spell resumed against Halifax Town in a 2-3 defeat on 15th August 1992 before finally departing for pastures new on 11th March 1995 following a 0-0 draw with Northampton Town.
According to “The Rochdale Division” he signed YTS after being invited to join the Youth Team on the recommendation of Roy Greaves, who had come across Shaun at Bolton Wanderers, presumably following older brother, Peter-interestingly they only played against each other once in a competitive match with Shaun apparently kicking hell out of Peter in a Bury v Rochdale encounter.
One of Shaun’s memories is playing against Wimbledon, including John Fashanu, Vinnie Jones and all those hard men in that era and on hearing in the tunnel “no one messes (???) with the Wimbledon Mafia” he turned round to see Terry Gibson (5 foot, nothing!!!!) mouthing off. According to Shaun, he was up against Vinnie Jones but battered and outplayed him after a tough old battle, which led him to believe he could have played at a higher standard but never got the chance with injuries playing a big part. Another incident concerns a match against Scunthorpe United where he was sent off on a stretcher having clattered into an opponent and received a second yellow card, the referee showing no sympathy!!!!
Injuries, as mentioned previously, made a major part in Shaun’s career battling against three broken legs, broken ribs, Achilles and ankle ligament damage plus the removal of cartilages, typical of the manner that he played football.
Dale fans regarded him as a legend through his no nonsense attitude and commitment to the cause for Rochdale AFC, remember “Who needs Cantona when we’ve got Shaunie Reid”
What are you doing since leaving Dale?: Shaun’s final Football League appearance was as a late substitute for Chester in a 5–0 win over Mansfield Town on 25th March 2000, just six weeks before Chester fell out of the Football League. He was strongly rumoured to be returning to Rochdale as manager when Graham Barrow was sacked but the job went to Steve Parkin instead. After taking FA qualifications, he worked with Andy King at Swindon Town, then Plymouth Argyle with brother, Peter before managing at Prescot Cables and Warrington Town, where tragedy struck when he suffered a brain haemorrhage at a match against Trafford “It just felt like something hit me in the back of the head, recovery was a difficult period for me but now I’m fully recovered”
Quote from Keith Hicks “Shaun would struggle in today’s modern game as he was a hard, determined, competitive player, who could pass a ball and most of all, a leader with his attitude to winning a game of football-some of these so called hard players wouldn’t last two minutes on the same pitch nowadays.
