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Peter Reid |
Peter Reid was born in Larkhall, South Lanarkshire, circa 1904. * The 5' 8 (10st 7lbs) forward signed for Donald Turner's Thistle on Tuesday, 7th May, 1929, having most recently been with Caernarvon Athletic. Aged 24 or 25, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 10th August, 1929, in a 2-0 defeat at home to Dundee in the SFL First Division. Peter scored his only goal for Thistle on Saturday, 28th December, 1929, in a 3-2 defeat at home to Ayr United in the SFL First Division. That goal came in his second and final appearance for the club. His club-list included Lanarkshire Welfare, Kirkintilloch Rob Roy, New Stevenston United, Parkhead, Rhyl Athletic, Swansea Town, Caernarvon Athletic, Partick Thistle and Sittingbourne. We don't know where or when Peter died. *
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Described as a fast and tricky player who obtained most of his opportunities by his clever positional play, Peter had some phenomenal streaks of scoring success. The youngster came through with Lanarkshire Welfare (the steel works team) and was picked up by Kirkintilloch Rob Roy in his late teens, where he upped his game. He moved on to New Stevenston United before having a very successful season with Parkhead in 1924-25. He lived in Holytown all the while and, in August 1925, he set off from there for adventure in Wales, signing with Rhyl Athletic of the First Division (North). Immediately Peter set a good impression with the locals, 5 goals in his first 2 games being a surefire sign of the good times ahead. Peter was outstanding for Rhyl Athletic in 1925-26, netting an incredible 48 goals in the centre-forward berth, and the league winners medal in his first season was thoroughly merited. This outstanding form earned him a move to Swansea Town for 1926-27. The Swans, along with Cardiff City, were far too big for the Welsh Leagues, and Peter now had has sights set on second tier football in the English game. Alas, he got injured in just his third game for the reserves, he had to sit out for a few months before making his comeback in January. Again, he showed what he was all about, seemingly netting hat-tricks with ease. It seems the big step up proved to be too much though, and he never made it big with the first team at Swansea, which was to the great advantage of Caernarvon Athletic where he was a star player, scoring somewhere in the region of 65 goals in the 1928-29 season. That season, Athletic were gunning for the Welsh National League (North) Division One title, but Peter had to settle for the runners-up spot this time around. He represented the Welsh League many times over the course of his 4 years down there. Peter returned to Scotland and new manager Donald Turner had high hopes that he might replicate some of his amazing Welsh form in Glasgow but, in first-team terms, it was all rather underwhelming for whatever reason, with only 2 appearances being registered. It was a different story in the reserves though, as Peter rattled in around 20 goals, including back-to-back hat-tricks in November in Scottish Alliance games against Motherwell and St Johnstone. Fed up of the transfer system which "treated players like cattle" the independent Peter opted to free himself from the restraints of the first class level. One of his old team mates from Caernarvon, Cousland, recommended him to the officials of Sittingbourne of the Kent League, and so it came to be that Peter moved down south for the beginning of season 1930-31. By September 1930, after just one game for his new club, an old knee injury flared up again and it was reported that Peter, not yet 26, was heading for specialist surgery in London. The trail goes cold from there which doesn't augur well for a succesful outcome. We get a sense that Peter was entrepreneurial - by 1947 he was licensed for greyhound racing with plans afoot for further sporting adventures! See 'Scrapbook' tab above to read more about it⦠|
(WS/AFK/JK) |
Historian's note: Place of birth given as Larkhall in the Athletic News season preview on 5/8/1929.