Sunderland made Paul Reid Academy Manager earlier this summer.
Sunderland appointed Jack Ross as manager earlier this year and the Scot’s first seven months in charge of the former Premier League regulars has been a success.
The Black Cats sit second in League One and have lost just two games all season, but one of the most impressive parts of Ross’ tenure so far has been his been his enthusiasm to bring through some of the youngsters on Wearside.
The North-East club appointed Paul Reid as manager of their well-known academy back in June and the 36-year-old believes having a manager like Ross is ‘priceless’ in an interview with the Chronicle.
When speaking about the former St Mirren boss, Reid said: “It’s priceless for us the fact we’ve got a manager who buys into the academy, buys into the youth aspect of it and is willing to give people a chance and reward people for good performances in the under-23s and the 18s.
“It gives us physical evidence when we try to improve somebody. That’s our USP (unique selling point) at the moment, we can give them a pathway into the first team and there’s actual evidence of that. It’s not just a case of us saying that.”
Youngsters Josh Maja, George Honeyman and Lynden Gooch have become key for Sunderland, having previously been on the fringes of the first-team.
All three will play an important role between now and the end of the season, with Maja leading the goal-scoring statistics, Honeyman wearing the captain’s armband and Gooch top of the assists charts.
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