Manchester-born Nicky Reid signed as an apprentice for Manchester City in April 1977 and was primarily a central defender who could also operate at full-back or in midfield. Aged just 18 he was given a surprise debut on March 7th 1979 in a 1-1 UEFA Cup quarter-final draw with Borussia Monchengladbach, practically being plucked straight out of the youth team by coach Malcolm Allison. He kept his place for a 3-1 second leg defeat two weeks later and on March 31st made his full league debut in a 2-1 away loss at Ipswich Town, going on to make a further seven league appearances that season and also captaining the FA Youth Cup final team that lost 2-0 to Millwall.
It took Reid until January of the following season to cement a first-team place, by which time City were fifteenth in the league and had been knocked out of the League Cup by Sunderland. An embarrassing 1-0 FA Cup third round defeat at fourth division Halifax Town was followed by a seventeen-game run without a win. Three wins from the final four games eventually saved the club from relegation, Nicky making a total of 23 appearances with his tenacious, marauding style making him instantly popular with the supporters.
The 1980/81 season would turn out to be the best of his career, although things looked far from good when mentor Allison was replaced in October by John Bond with the Blues bottom of the league. The change was immediate as only four games were lost in the next four months, with Nicky alternating between the full-back and sweeper roles, and a great League Cup run was only brought to an end at the semi-final stage by Liverpool. Progress in the FA Cup was also impressive, Reid picking up a runners-up medal after a 3-2 replay defeat by Tottenham Hotspur in the Centenary FA Cup final and only missing five league games all season as the team climbed to a decent twelfth place finish.
The following campaign turned out to be one of consolidation with a respectable tenth place in the league, but the cup exploits of the previous year could not be repeated and fourth-round defeats to Coventry (3-1) in the FA Cup and Barnsley (1-0) in the League Cup put paid to any trophy ambitions. At the end of the season Reid had a spell with Seattle Sounders in the North American Soccer League but returned to Maine Road the following October, resuming his partnership with Tommy Caton at the heart of City's defence, but with manager Bond resigning in March a disastrous 1982/83 season ended in relegation on the last day with a 1-0 defeat to Luton Town at Maine Road.
Under new manager Billy McNeill the 1983/84 campaign would see Reid play his football outside the top division for the first time, in his sixth season with the club. He finally managed to open his goalscoring account for the Blues in a 2-1 win over Portsmouth in February, three weeks later notching the winner in a 1-0 home win over Shrewsbury Town, but by then the Blues had already been knocked out of both cups in the early rounds by Blackpool and Aston Villa, and fourth place in the league was not good enough to seal promotion.
The following season Reid's central-defensive pairing with Mick McCarthy finally began to reap dividends, only 40 league goals conceded, and this was a major factor in City's promotion push. Although by mid-January they were out of both cups and sat just above half-way in the league, a great run over the next two months saw them go into the final game of the season needing to beat Charlton Athletic at Maine Road to go up. A 5-1 victory ensured they were promoted in third place, with Nicky now back in the top-flight having made 32 appearances over the course of the season.
A realistic aim for the foreseeable future was to stay in the First Division and have a decent run in the cup competitions. With Reid struggling with injury in the early part of the following season he did not get a run out until mid-October, after which he was an ever-present for the rest of the season. A fifteenth place league finish was a good effort but defeats by Arsenal and Watford in the cups thwarted any ambitions in that direction. At the start of the 1986/87 season Nicky was struggling to get a regular first team place, making only occasional appearances, and after playing in a 4-0 defeat to Leicester City at the end of March he decided to move to Blackburn Rovers on a free transfer. During his ten years at Maine Road he had made a total of 258 appearances (2 as substitute), scored 2 goals, won 6 England Under 21 caps and played under six different managers. He later had spells at West Bromwich Albion, Wycombe, Bristol City, Witton Albion, Woking, Bury and Sligo Rovers, where he took over as player-manager. After his playing days ended he qualified as a physiotherapist and went on to work for several clubs in the north-west of England. (David Redshaw)