How Peter Reid left Niall Quinn feeling mortified in front of his new Manchester City teammates
Ireland legend Niall Quinn joined Manchester City from Arsenal in 1990, just before Italia ‘90.
Niall Quinn has recalled how his old Manchester City assistant manager Peter Reid left him feeling mortified in front of his new teammates.
The former Ireland striker arrived at Maine Road in March of 1990, just three months before Italia 90, where he scored in the 1-1 draw against the Netherlands.
He was quickly introduced to some of the pastimes at City - and one of them was a regular game of head tennis. Quinn hadn’t played it before his move and his first game, where he was paired up with Reid, ended in disaster.
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“We used to play head tennis every day. I never played head tennis at Arsenal or foot tennis as it were,” Quinn told the Official Manchester City Podcast.
“There was a gym at Maine Road. I had only just signed and we were having a head tennis competition and there was a rope about five foot across the back of the stand.
“It was within crooks and crannies and you had to learn how to play off the walls. You needed good feet, had to read it and get the ball back over the net and win it with headers.
“I signed for the club and they were all down there for this big competition, and because I was late in they put me in with Peter Reid who was the assistant manager at the time.
“In the first round, the doctor and the physiotherapist beat us! Peter Reid hammered me and all the players were going ‘how much did we pay for him?’. I was mortified, but I’d never played the game.”
Quinn, who spent just over six years at City, scoring 78 goals in 243 appearances, was quick to get to grips with the game - and he recalled how he became one of the best players at the club.
“I made sure after that I was going to show how good I was and in the end, and (City legend and coach) Tony Book will tell you this, I became unbeatable.
“Tony Book had the record in there and no one had beaten him because he knew every crook and cranny in it.
“The one day, I had him beat. I was 20-15 up and they gathered in to see this moment and Skip being Skip had someone pull the lights so the game was cancelled and he kept his unbeaten record!”
Quinn also recalled on the podcast how his manager at the time, Howard Kendall, got the best out of him.
“He [Kendall] made me a better player by just man management,” said Quinn. “He didn’t show me what to do with the ball, he didn’t tell me as a centre forward how to pull into the right areas – didn’t do that, but he made me feel like I could do anything I wanted.
“That’s the great skill that set managers in those days had. It’s probably more difficult to be that character now as managers were in those times. I have a huge soft spot for Howard.”
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