Leslie Arnold Reed (born 12 December 1952) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and was the manager of

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

between 14 November and 24 December 2006. He was technical director of the

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

between 2002 and 2004. Between April 2010 and November 2018, Reed was Head of Football Development and the Vice-Chairman of Football at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. Reed was appointed as football strategy advisor at

Wrexham A.F.C. Wrexham Association Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Wrecsam) is a Welsh professional association football club based in Wrexham, Wales. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Formed ...

on 1 June 2021.

Early life and playing career

Reed was born in

Wapping Wapping () is a district in East London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Wapping's position, on the north bank of the River Thames, has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses and steps, ...

, London. He was on the books as a football player for

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, and

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

as a centre forward, but did not play any league matches for any of the three clubs.

Coaching and managerial career

Early career

Reed started his coaching career in non-league football, coaching both

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...

and

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont and Kenton, and east of Headstone. The area accommodates ...

. In 1985 Wealdstone won both the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

and the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

with him. In 1986, he joined the

(FA) as development officer. He worked there for nine years in a variety of roles including Regional Director of Coaching and coach at The FA National School, where he worked with

Joe Cole Joseph John Cole (born 8 November 1981) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or winger in the Premier League, Ligue 1, League One and United Soccer League. He is regarded as one ...

Sol Campbell Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell (born 18 September 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of club Southend United. He previously managed Macclesfield Town from November 2018 to August 20 ...

Nick Barmby Nicholas Jon Barmby (born 11 February 1974) is an English football coach and former professional player. As a player, he played as a midfielder spending nearly his entire career in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur, Middlesbrough, Evert ...

and

Michael Owen Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since r ...

, among others. He went to Italy for his first World Cup in 1990 with

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

's England team. It was the first of three World Cup finals tournaments in which he would serve his country. In 1995 Reed left the FA to become

Alan Curbishley Llewellyn Charles "Alan" Curbishley (born 8 November 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He played as a midfielder for West Ham United, Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Charlton Athletic and Brighton & Hove Albion and has worke ...

's assistant at Charlton Athletic, helping them to gain promotion to the

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

via the playoffs in 1998. After the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Reed was appointed Director of Technical Development at the FA by Howard Wilkinson, its Technical Director at the time. He coached England's new under-15 National Team to win the Nationwide Trophy at Wembley, defeating an Argentine team that included

Carlos Tevez Carlos Alberto Tevez (; born 5 February 1984) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. A quick, tenacious, powerful, hard-working and dynamic forward in his prime, Tevez was capable of playing as a striker, as a winger ...

The FA and England

In 1998 Reed rejoined the FA as part of the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

national coaching setup under

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. A forward, he played for several professional clubs from 1968 to 1984. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, he moved to Liverpool in 1971 and ...

. During

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

, Keegan allowed Reed to respond to virtually all the tactical questions posed by the English press after England's defeat by Portugal. Many journalists wondered in their columns how a manager and his coaching team had allowed a minor member of their entourage such an important role. In his autobiography, ''Gerrard: My Autobiography'',

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

captain Steven Gerrard said that he had "no respect" for Les Reed after the way he treated him during England's Euro 2000 campaign. Gerrard wrote, "To this day, I have no respect for Reed or (fellow coach)

Derek Fazackerley Derek William Fazackerley (born 5 November 1951) is an English former footballer who is currently employed as the assistant manager at Oxford United, and managed the club on a caretaker basis for two months in 2018. He spent the majority of his ...

. I was a young lad who had never been away from home to play football before. They didn't seem to understand that not everyone can board a plane, settle in a strange hotel far from the family they love, and find it easy. In fact they made me feel like shit. My homesickness worsened whenever I was forced to be in their company. I felt they could have shown more care and sympathy. They were always pushing me, always telling me to buck up my ideas." In 2002 Reed replaced

Howard Wilkinson Howard Wilkinson (born 13 November 1943) is an English former footballer and manager. Despite having a low-profile playing career, Wilkinson embarked on a successful managerial career. He won the First Division championship in 1992 with Leeds ...

as the FA's Technical Director. During his second spell at the FA he authored the FA's official coaching manual, ''The Official FA Guide to Basic Team Coaching'', but he was sacked by the FA in 2004.

Charlton Athletic

Reed worked for a time as a consultant. Among his clients was the

Northern Ireland national football team The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1920, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland natio ...

, who would beat England during his stint with the side. He returned to Charlton to become

Iain Dowie Iain Dowie (born 9 January 1965) is a football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. He played as a striker from 1983 until 2001, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Ham Unit ...

's assistant manager in summer 2006. Dowie was sacked on 14 November 2006 and Reed was promoted to replace him. During his six-week spell as manager Reed managed just one victory, and Charlton were knocked out of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

team Wycombe Wanderers. Reed's spell at Charlton became infamous, as the media attacked him frequently, nicknaming him "Les Misérables" and "Santa Clueless", and he was later voted in an unofficial online poll "the worst manager of all time". He was replaced as manager by

Alan Pardew Alan Scott Pardew (born 18 July 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club Aris. Pardew's highest achievements in the sport include reaching the FA Cup Final th ...

on 24 December, leaving Charlton Athletic by mutual consent.

Fulham

Reed was linked with a consultancy role helping Northern Ireland boss

Lawrie Sanchez Lawrence Philip Sanchez (born 22 October 1959) is a Northern Irish football manager and former international footballer. The defining moment of his playing career came in the 1988 FA Cup Final, when he scored the winning goal for Wimbledon ag ...

, who approached him after a League Managers' Association meeting at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

in February 2007. He had been considering consultancy roles with the football associations of Turkey and Latvia, and he revealed that he could return to Charlton in an overseas development role. After a period advising the Football Association of Ireland, he became first-team coach at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in April 2007, where he helped the club retain their league position at the expense of Charlton. In June 2007 he was appointed Director of Football at Fulham, notably recruiting

Chris Smalling Christopher Lloyd Smalling (born 22 November 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Roma. Smalling represented the England national team from 2011 to 2017. During his youth, Smalling played fo ...

from non-league football, later to be sold for an estimated 12 million pounds to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Bishop's Stortford

On 19 December 2008 Reed was appointed assistant manager on a voluntary basis at

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

in the

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

, to help manager Mark Simpson, a long-standing friend. Here he was instrumental in recommending winger Danny Green to John Still, manager of

Dagenham and Redbridge F.C. Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as ...

Maccabiah Games

Reed, who had been to Israel several times, was Team GB head coach at the

2009 Maccabiah Games The 18th Maccabiah Games ( he, המכביה ה-18 ישראל תשס"ט), were held in July 2009. According to the organizing committee these were the largest games held yet. These Games were the world's fifth-largest sporting event, behind the Ol ...

in Israel, with

Jonathan Kestenbaum, Baron Kestenbaum use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

as his Team GB manager. The team won the silver medal, losing in the finals to Argentina.https://www.thejc.com/sport/sport-news/europa-league-match-in-israel-a-real-dream-ticket-for-saint-les-1.53440 Reed said: "The 18th Maccabiah Games were one of the highlights of my career as a coach."

Southampton

On 16 April 2010 Reed was appointed Head of Football Development and Support at

, and later the Vice-Chairman, overseeing four main areas: the Youth Academy, Scouting and Recruitment, Sports medicine and Science, and Kit and Equipment Management. Reed left the club on 8 November 2018.

Football Association

On 21 December 2018, It was announced that Reed was appointed as the

's technical director, and would take up the post in February 2019.

Managerial stats

References

External links

*
Charlton appoint Reed as new boss
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Les 1952 births Living people Footballers from Wapping English footballers Association football forwards Cambridge United F.C. players Watford F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players English football managers Charlton Athletic F.C. managers Premier League managers Fulham F.C. non-playing staff Southampton F.C. non-playing staff Southampton F.C. directors and chairmen Wrexham A.F.C. non-playing staff