It was there that he enjoyed the most fruitful spell of his career, as he helped the club win domestic and European honours, including the English Football League twice.
Reid joined Queens Park Rangers in 1989, but moved on to Manchester City a year later to begin his managerial career.
His seven-year association with Sunderland ended in 2002 and he returned to management a year later, helping Leeds United avoid relegation from the Premier League.
He won the T&T Cup with the country before returning to England as assistant manager to Tony Pulis at Stoke City, and helped them to an eleventh-place finish in the Premier League.
The boyhood Liverpool fan transferred to rivals Everton in 1982, for £60,000 in 1982 only 12 months after a much larger fee had been mooted – a succession of injuries had cut the price.
In that game, Reid was recklessly challenged by Manchester United defender Kevin Moran who became the first player to be sent off in an FA Cup final.
He led them to some important victories, most specially over Newcastle United on 24 October 1993, a game in which Matt Le Tissier scored two goals.
Reid's managerial career began on 7 November 1990 at Manchester City, when he was appointed caretaker manager after the departure of Howard Kendall back to Everton.
[8][9] The fans recorded the song due to the fact the manager often had a dour demeanour, whilst the team was doing well, and even won promotion at the end of the season.
Sunderland missed automatic promotion by one place in 1997–98 but reached the Division One play-off final, facing Charlton Athletic at Wembley Stadium.
Reid's side missed out on promotion after drawing 3-3 after 90 minutes, 4-4 after extra time and losing 7–6 in a penalty shoot-out in one of the most dramatic play-off finals to date.
In a bid to halt the decline, Reid paid a club record £6.75million for Norwegian striker Tore André Flo from Rangers but was unsuccessful.
The club was still in a poor financial state, and Reid was forced to sell Harry Kewell and bring in cheaper signings from abroad as replacements.
[19] On 9 September 2009, the Thailand Football Association (FAT) announced that Reid had left his position as manager; his contract was terminated by mutual consent after a year in charge.
The club was hit with two winding-up petitions from HMRC in November, and was forced to sell star players Bradley Wright-Phillips and Craig Noone in the January transfer window.
[25] Despite these efforts the club was docked 10 points for intention to enter administration in February 2011 and left Argyle bottom of League 1 with relegation seeming inevitable.
[27] Reid was forced to sign an almost entirely new team over the summer of 2011, with 10 players making their debut on the opening day in a 1–1 draw with Shrewsbury Town.
[29] On 4 September 2014, Reid was appointed manager of Mumbai City FC ahead of the inaugural Indian Super League season.
[30][31] On 18 March 2016, it was announced that Reid had returned to his first club Bolton Wanderers in a coaching capacity to assist interim manager Jimmy Phillips.