AFW caught up with Adelaide United’s Paul Reid
How you settling into Adelaide?
I-m really enjoying it. A lot of my friends in Sydney said, “What are you doing in Adelaide? It-s quiet and it-s not like Sydney…” But I-m really enjoying here – the club-s been good to me and they-re a great bunch of guys here.
Are you getting in touch with your spiritual side now you-re in the City of Churches?
That-s the only thing I knew about Adelaide, that it was the City of Churches
– I haven-t looked out for churches since I-ve been here. I-m not sure how many there are in Adelaide.
Getting a call-up to the Socceroos must be good?
I always said that if I wanted to get into the Socceroos this would be my best option, to come and play in the A-League, but I wasn-t expecting it to happen so quickly – it was a shock.
Where would you pitch the standard of the A-League in comparison to football you-ve experienced in England?
I would think lower teams in the Championship and top few teams in League One [third division].
Who-d win in a game between Adelaide United and Brighton & Hove Albion?
I-d have to say Adelaide, definitely.
You-ve played for rams, wolves, bantams, and seagulls – you-ve got quite a zoo. What-s your favourite animal?
I-d have to say a dog.
Who was your idol as a kid?
Peter Beardsley. I supported Liverpool and always looked up to Peter and his style of play.
He was a great player; ugly as sin but a great player.
[Laughs.] Yeah, exactly!
In terms of your teammates, who has the worse dress sense?
There-s always a bit of banter flying around about that. Let-s say Scott Jamieson. He turns up in these Chinese or Japanese-style slippers every day and he thinks they-re pretty cool.
Who-s got the funniest nickname at the club?
Lucas Pantelis – they call him “The Cat” but I don-t know why.
We-ll find out before the end of the season. Who are you most looking forward to coming up against in the Hyundai A-League?
Steve Corica. He-s a good player and you can see how well you-re performing and how well you-re going when you come up against him because he-s a consistent player and has been around for years.
And world football? Who would you like to come up against?
If there was anyone I would want to go and watch, and pay to watch them, it-d be Cristiano Ronaldo.
What about if you had the task of marking him in a game?
To be honest, I-d probably chop him down early. If he was running at me I don-t think I-d have much chance [laughs].
If we went to karaoke what would we sing?
I-d have to sing… [long pause] Islands in the Stream – Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
We wouldn-t sing that with you because we couldn-t hit those high notes. Which three people, dead or alive, would you invite to your dinner party?
Nelson Mandela, Gordon Ramsay – he can cook our food, so that-s good – and Natalie Imbruglia.
Speaking of Ramsay, did you see Kitchen Nightmares last night?
Yeah, I love watching it. When I tell my mum I-m watching Gordon-s Kitchen Nightmares she says she can-t watch it because there-s too much swearing. I don-t swear, I grew up and never swore, but my mum thinks because I watch the show I-m going to swear. And I say, “Mum, it-s not going to make me swear, I just like watching it.”
Final question, Paul: who-s going to win the A-League this season?
Adelaide [laughs] and hopefully we can cause a few more upsets in the Asian Champions League as well.
We-re behind you to make the final – good luck with that mate.
