Ricky Sbragia needs more time, says Peter Reid

May 20 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

PETER Reid has urged his former striker Niall Quinn to give Ricky Sbragia more time as Sunderland manager – even if the Scot presides over the club’s relegation at the weekend.

Sbragia’s future will be the main topic of chairman Quinn’s “strategic review” at the end of the campaign. A man first brought to the Stadium of Light by Reid signed an 18-month contract when he replaced Roy Keane at Christmas. But there is a growing expectation that he will not see his tenure out, irrespective of what division the Black Cats are playing in next season.

It is a reality the man himself acknowledged after Monday’s 3-1 defeat to Portsmouth consigned the Wearsiders to a last-day game against Chelsea with tens of millions of pounds resting on its outcome. “If they go down, Niall Quinn’s got a big decision to make but knowing Quinny, he doesn’t panic,” said Reid, Sunderland’s most successful manager of the last 25 years.

“Football clubs who change managers usually get in a little trouble. I’d give the lad a chance to get them back up.”