Londoner Colin Reid joined Spurs in 1994 as a youth/academy coach with some of the pre-YTS/scholarship youth/academy players, and he would stay with Spurs for four years, until 1998. Coaching players such as future Spurs first team players Ledley King and Peter Crouch at Spurs, Colin Reid has some great memories of his time at Spurs as a coach, learning from the likes of Pat Holland and Bobby Arber, at the club. Colin, who is an incredibly experienced coach, is now the assistant manager to Mark Stimson (a former Spurs player), at Isthmian League Premier Division side Margate. However, I recently spoke with Colin about some of his Spurs memories.
Could you talk me through some of your footballing background prior to joining Spurs? And also, how did you come about joining Spurs as a coach?
Colin: I played the game at youth level, although I never went on to make it in the game as a player. I got introduced to people like Pat Holland, who was my coach when I was a youngster at West Ham, but after I had gone out of the game, he asked me what I was doing, and he would then take me to Leyton Orient with him, at 19/20. I was fortunate to be under his wing there, and be around great people at the club like Frank Clark and also John Sitton. But Pat Holland was my greatest influence as a coach, and I idolised him as he was very detailed, and I was just lucky enough to spend seven years at Leyton Orient. Pat had later gone off to Spurs, so after being at Spurs for those years I coached at Charlton Ahtletic for a year, under the guidance of one of the best coaches that I’ve worked with, in John Cartwright. He was an absolute legend and also the technical director at Charlton, and so I spent the year there at Charlton. Purely by chance my parents went out for a drink at Pat Holland’s wine bar, and obviously Pat knew my parents and so he asked them how I was getting on. The next thing I knew, I was getting a call to go to Spurs, and it was an offer to go to my club. I’m a Leyton Orient/Hackney lad originally, but Spurs was my big team.
So I went to Spurs because of Pat, and I believe that the first age group that I coached there was either the 14’s/15’s team, and in that squad was Ledley King. Len Cheesewright had scouted Ledley from Leyton Orient, because of Pat Holland, and he brought over three players to Spurs, with the other two being John Moncur Senior’s nephew, and a player called Millsy. So I’d worked with Ledley for three or four years at Leyton Orient before he’d joined Spurs, because in those days you didn’t have one team, as you had centres of excellence, where you were working with a number of age groups. So I knew of Ledley already. However, at Spurs some of the other coaches who I’d worked with included Bobby Arber, Jimmy Neighbour (god rest his soul), and Chris Hughton. We used to train at the ground in those days and then play our games at Mill Hill, but to be around Pat Holland and be under his wing with all of his experience, that was unbelievable. I’d already known Pat for 16 years prior to joining Spurs. There was also Bobby Arber, who was so great to learn the defensive side of the game from, whereas Pat was very much into the in possession/attacking side of the game. I can remember the first day that I joined Spurs, and I can remember Pat introducing me to Osvaldo Ardiles, which was unbelievable. As Ossie was one of my heroes, along with Glenn Hoddle.
Could you talk me through some of your earliest memories of your time at the club?
Colin: To go into such a great club and see those household names that I’d watched was brilliant. Pat Holland was very good at getting us coaches to socialise after the games in the oak room, so I always felt part of it. Mill Hill wasn’t of the standard of the Luxborough Lane or Hotspur Way training ground, but the people and coaches around the club were legends. And Pat really got the coaches together, people like Chris Hughton, who was just the nicest guy in the world and also Bobby Arber and Jimmy Neighbour. Although I didn’t know at the time, we had an impression that the some of the group of youth players at the club would go on to make it in the game, although we didn’t know at which level. So to have the names of Ledley King, Ledley King and Johnnie Jackson and Peter Crouch make it, was just really good. There was also Peter Crouch, and I’ll never forget Des Bulpin saying that there was a player coming to Spurs who didn’t look like a player, but who was a player. He’d already worked with Peter at QPR, and I can vividly remember Peter arriving with his dad Bruce at Spurs. My first impressions of Peter was that he wasn’t your average footballer, which was a compliment in a way as he was so articulate, and he was very academic.
Peter didn’t have any real strength, but his first touch and control was unbelievable, and he was so intelligent. It wasn’t just about those who went on to make it big, but also players like Dean Harding, Ronnie Henry, Lee Barnard, Dean Marney, David Lee, all players who went on to have good careers away from Spurs. There’s just so many players who went on to do good things away from Spurs. I couldn’t have had a greater introduction to coaching, than to be around such fantastic people at Spurs. Slightly off topic, but going back to my days as a youth player, I can remember playing at Spurs’ old Cheshunt training ground for Leyton Orient. I remember looking up and Glenn Hoddle was standing on the side of the pitch, and I was wondering why he was there. Anyway we lost 5-1 and I scored a goal from 25 yards, but I can remember looking up and seeing a guy for Spurs who looked a bit like him, and it was Carl Hoddle. So that was another memory that I’ll never forget. But my memories of my time at Spurs are so great, that they influence how I coach today. At Spurs, we collectively helped to produce players who went on to play for Spurs and have great careers. That was down to people like John Moncur Senior, Pat Holland (he was very instrumental) and Keith Waldon, who was a household name back in the day.
So to be around the people that I’ve named, and to try and take a bit of their knowledge from them, that was something that I’ll never forget.
During your time at Spurs you would coach many very good players. What was it like to coach such quality players?
Colin: At the time you don’t really realise, but what I say to people now is that those elite players who I coached, they always wanted to be told the truth. I look at the academy system now, and I think that it’s alright. Some clubs’ academy set-ups are a lot better than others, and things have changed. But those top players, and I mean the Peter Crouch’s and Ledley King’s and Jermain Defoe’s (I coached Jermain for a while at Charlton) of football, they always want to be told the truth. I always have a saying that average players want to be left alone, good players want to be coached, but elite and top players always want to be told the truth. More so than ever we were encouraged to tell the truth and be honest with the players, and I think that they all respected that. But looking back when people ask me to pick a player who really stood out, and I’ve coached 15/16 future international players for England, and I always say that that’s not a difficult question, as it’s Ledley King. As he was the player. If in those days we were doing one v ones in the ball-court at White Hart Lane, then no one would get past Ledley. And if you had to go past someone, then Ledley would go past anyone. His attitude was also excellent, and he was a gentleman who was honest and hardworking. Don’t get me wrong, the other players who all went on to have good careers, were also very good players. However, in terms of the greatest player for me, then it was Ledley King.
What was your time at Spurs like on the whole?
Colin: To be around such a big club, and to be around such humble coaches, people like Chris Hughton, who had achieved so much in the game, he was so humble and willing to share his knowledge of the game. And also there was Pat Holland, who I talk about in such high esteem and Bobby Arber, who were around me at the club. My time at Spurs only came to an end because there was a change to the structure, and David Pleat had returned to the club. After that I found myself surplus to requirements, and it broke my heart. But after that I went straight to West Ham, after speaking to Tony Carr. I’ve got no bad words to say about Spurs, even though it was a sad ending for me, but that’s life. I have the fondest of memories of my time at Spurs, and I wish them all the best for the future.
Were there any people at Spurs who you looked up to, during your time with the club as a coach?
Colin: As I’ve said before it has to be Pat Holland. He was my coach at West Ham and from then he sort of mentored me and took me under his wing. Also, after Gerry Francis came in and then to be around Osvaldo Ardiles and Steve Perryman, that was just incredible. I’ve also got to mention Dickie Moss and a man called Johnny Martin, who was a legend, who was always doing impressions. There was also Robbie Stepney, who I looked up to.
Are there any memories from your time at Spurs which really stand out to you?
Colin: There’s so many. I can remember when Tottenham were playing Manchester United on New Year’s Day, and I’d bumped into Andy Sinton and introduced myself to him, but afterwards I went to the oak room to see Pat Holland and Bobby Arber. I went straight up there and I was the first person there, and then Alex Ferguson came into the bar. He came over to me and asked me if I’d watched the game and what I thought, and I said that it was a great result for us, to which he said well it weren’t for us. So afterwards I thought that I’ve just spoken to another great man just through having an involvement with Tottenham Hotspur. So to just be associated with a club like Spurs was brilliant. I remember Spurs fans asking me if we had any decent players coming through, and I can vividly remember saying that this guy is going to be a player, and that was Ledley King. Also, seeing Peter Crouch going on to where he did and then coming back to Spurs later on, that was great. But as I said before, it’s not just the players who went on to become big names, but it’s also about the likes of Glenn Poole and Ronnie Henry who went on to have good careers in the game.
From your time with Spurs as a coach, looking back which players really stood out to you for their technical ability and talent?
Colin: I’ve mentioned Ledley before, but for the way that he played, Peter Crouch’s first touch and ball control was immense. Then you had players who didn’t go on to make it at Spurs, like Dean Harding, who was a very neat and tidy player, and also Glenn Poole. Glenn had an exceptional left foot, as did Johnnie Jackson. Then you look at Dean Marney, who grew up to be big and strong. There was also Ben Bowditch, and I remember when he first joined Spurs, and I thought that he had something about him as a player. And he would go on to play for England at youth level. It was just a privilege to be around so many fantastic players at Spurs at that time.
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement/contribution in your time as a coach with Spurs?
Colin: It was an honour and a privilege to be there, and I can remember Pat Holland saying to me that I was very technically neat and tidy as a player, and that I should go into coaching. However, joining Spurs and coaching some of the young players, they were as good as me, if not better than me, and I was 28 at the time. Micky Hazard was coaching some of the younger age groups at the time and you also had Tommy Cunningham. But we as coaches helped to produce so many good players, just from the ball-court at White Hart Lane.
What would your advice be to the Spurs Academy players of today, as they look to make it in the game?
Colin: As I always say, listen to your coaches as there are some very good coaches in there. It might be frustrating sometimes because you’ve got such good players around you, but I would advise players now, that although it’s nice to play in the Under 21’s for the club, it’s more evident now to get out on loan. When you’ve been at a club like Spurs, for someone to say to you to go out on loan to Aldershot or whoever in the lower leagues, then you might not want to as you’re a Spurs player. But my opinion is that you’re not a player until you get that second or third professional contract. You might be on a good wage, but you need to be playing in that environment where people are paying to watch you play for their team, and where it counts. So you’ve got to get on loan, and my experience from being in non-League and for example being at Bishop’s Stortford, when we got Jordan Archer in on loan, is that that helped him grow as a footballer, and he of course went on to win an international cap (for Scotland). So to summarise, I’d say that you should enjoy your time at Spurs and to listen to your coaches. But when you’re at that right age, then you need to take the advice of the coaches and go out and play the game where it matters. When you get those minutes and do well, then you start to appreciate your time out on loan at those lower league sides.
After all these years how do you look back on your time with Spurs? And are they a club that you still hold close to your heart?
Colin: It was hard when I left Spurs and it broke my heart, but you later realise that it’s not personal. It was probably the fondest four years of my life in football, even though I’ve had lots of great times at other clubs, but it’s probably the best time that I’ve had in my time as a coach, especially in learning from such great people and being around such big names. So I was privileged to work with great players like Peter Crouch, who scored the most headed goals in the Premier League era. And also Ledley King, who was one of Spurs’ best central defenders, and someone who could have played for Real Madrid or Barcelona, and not looked out of place. So the memories that I’ve got from my time at Spurs will always be something that is dear to my heart, and that I’ll never forget. I’ll also forever be thankful to Pat Holland, for giving me the opportunity to coach at Spurs, in what were the best four years of my coaching time.
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