Allardyce refuses to risk Reid friendship

Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce never considered bringing Peter Reid back to the Stadium of Light due to his ‘no friends’ policy. 

Allardyce and Reid have been friends since their playing days, and it was thought the former may call on the latter – a former Sunderland manager himself – to be his assistant after he took the job at the Stadium of Light earlier this month.

However, speaking ahead of his team’s Premier League trip to Everton on Saturday, Allardyce said: “Reidy is a very good friend, and I’ve never been a believer in appointing friends in coaching. 

“One of my best friendships dwindled in the pub business – we still talk, but it challenged that friendship too much – and that taught me to go into football and find people that I can have good relations with but without being over-friendly.”

Reid managed Sunderland between 1995 and 2002, leading the north-east club to two First Division titles during that seven-year spell.

Allardyce added: “Would I have like to have [appointed Reid]? Yes, I would.

“But I’ve always had that policy – as much as I know Reidy would have loved to come back, I have to stick to my own beliefs.”