Reid fires parting shot

7:00am Wednesday 7th May 2008

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Paul Reid has directed a parting shot at Albion boss Dean Wilkins and his management style.

The normally mild-mannered Australian is seething over the the handling of his departure from the Seagulls.

Reid claims Wilkins: l Does not communicate enough with his players l Lacks man-management skills l Shows disrespect in his treatment of senior pros Reid was among ten players released by the club yesterday in an end-of-season clear-out.

He has been joined on the dole queue by long-serving trio Kerry Mayo, Gary Hart and Guy Butters, plus Sam Rents, David Martot, Shane McFaul, Sonny Cobbs, Chris Winterton and Lloyd Skinner.

The versatile Reid, hit by a succession of long-term injury problems since the start of last season, says he knew what was coming when he walked into Wilkins' office at the training ground at Falmer yesterday morning.

The 28-year-old from Sydney, signed on a free transfer from Bradford City four years ago, forced his way back into the first team in January but then suffered medial knee ligament damage.

Reid said: "When Dean Wilkins said they were not going to be giving me another contract, I sarcastically said to him shock, horror'.

"I knew just from what has gone on over the last few months and even just the last few weeks really. I strained my medial ligament at the wrong time. I had just got back into the team and I was unlucky with that injury.

"For the last six weeks that I've been back I've played five reserve games in four different positions. It gets to the stage where you think if somebody wants you at the club they would give you an opportunity to shine and prove your worth.

"The reserves played Leyton Orient away and I played left midfield. I know I was our best player in that game but I didn't get in the first team squad that weekend. You know deep down that when your face doesn't fit you have got no chance.

"I was coming back at the start of the season from a serious knee injury. You have got to get back into the swing of things and the feel of playing football again.

"When you haven't played for so long you need a run of games where you are given a bit of a chance and I haven't found that this year.

"The medial ligament injury didn't help but, even before that, I travelled with the team to all the games and Sam Rents and I were always the ones left out.

"You have got to stay positive but when you don't get any feedback from the coaching staff, any communication between them and you, then it makes it difficult. You keep putting in 100 per cent in training and don't complain and that's what Sam and I did."

With his contract running out and his future up in the air, the frustration mounted for Reid and other senior members of the squad as they awaited their fate.

He said: "You would think someone who has played should know how to man manage people. All players want is honesty. If the manager doesn't want you then you just prefer them to be honest with you, so you can look elsewhere.

"They don't want to be left out in the cold, get to this stage of the season and then get told you are not being signed next year. It makes it difficult when you have given your all in every game you have played. I have done so much for this club, on and off the pitch.

"You understand that sometimes a manager likes you, sometimes they don't. If they don't then you would prefer to know there and then that you are not wanted so you can move on and look for other things.

"That is the main thing. I have spoken to all of the players and, as you can imagine, none of the players are happy with the way it has been dealt with. It has been left so late.

"It is a bit of a lack of respect to us as players. A lot of these players have mortgages and families. This is their livelihoods.

"I made it clear in my meeting yesterday that it's not great leaving it so late and Dean Wilkins agreed.

"He said the timing wasn't great but then said he is not fully to blame and that, seeing as I know the chairman so well, why don't I speak to him about why it was left so late?

"The management and coaching staff deal with the players on a daily basis and it seemed like he was shifting the blame on the chairman, when it should be the management who are making the decisions.

"They know what the players are doing in training, how they are performing and what sort of characters they are."

Reid admits the whole experience has left him with a nasty taste in the mouth after six goals in 104 appearances in midfield and at full-back for Albion, which included helping them to promotion in his first few months at the club and then staying in the Championship.

He said: "I love being at this club and I am normally a person who sits back, doesn't let things bother me.

"If the manager asks me to play in a certain position I won't complain. I have been left out most of the season and I don't cause any trouble.

"I have respected the management and the club and to be treated like we have been and left out in the cold shows a lack of respect.

"I am angry so people like Kerry and Harty, who have been here for ten or 11 years, must be pulling their hair out."

Reid now aims to prove Albion are wrong to let him go by continuing his career in England, rather than returning Down Under. He said: "My wife and I have settled here. I have just become a British citizen and I have already turned down a three-year deal to go back to the Australian A League. People must think I'm mad but we want to stay here.

"I want to prove them (Albion) wrong. They said since I have been here I have not made one position my own. I thought being versatile and filling different positions has benefited the club and the team. "Now it seems like that has been one of my downfalls."

Wilkins said: "I always knew a big part of the job would be to bring to a close a very successful era in the club's history. A player's time, however successful, always eventually comes to an end.

"All the contract decisions that were made were entirely for footballing reasons and nothing else. I don't take any pleasure delivering this type of news to players, having suffered it first hand in 1996 along with our first team coach, Ian Chapman, who had just been voted player of the season, but it is part of the game.

"Equally, the timing of informing the players is part of the profession. About 90 per cent of Football League clubs inform out of contract players at this time of the season. Officially we have until May 17 and some clubs still have not announced their retained lists.

"I would like to be able to tell players earlier but that was not practicable as opinions and decisions were not finalised. I thank all the players I had to see yesterday for their professionalism on the pitch throughout their time at the club and I wish them all the very best for the future."