All Whites legend plans to help Auckland FC develop hometown heroes

By Michael Burgess

When Winston Reid was 10, he was just another kid kicking a ball around Auckland fields, turning out for Takapuna AFC.

At 13 he was just another teenager with a dream, taking the sport more seriously but also focused on fun with his mates, now living in Denmark after his family had emigrated.

Then at the age of 16 everything changed – Reid entered an academy at Danish club FC Midtjylland, with up to 12 training sessions a week. That was the lift-off moment – a period of rapid development. Within 18 months, Reid was training with the first team.

From there it was Boy’s Own stuff – the Danish Superliga, the All Whites, the Fifa World Cup and more than 200 appearances at West Ham United in the English Premier League. But Reid has never forgotten his roots – and what it took to make it as a professional – when the vast majority of his teenage contemporaries didn’t.

“I wanted to be a footballer, but I had no understanding of what it took,” Reid tells the Herald. “Then when you get in the [academy] system, it’s like, ‘okay, to get to there I need to do this and this’. Gradually you learn more and more. But you are always adapting.”

He wants to pass on those learnings to future generations in New Zealand, which was a factor in his decision to invest in Auckland FC. Along with fellow ex-internationals Tim Brown and Noah Hickey, the former All Whites captain was confirmed as a minority investor in the new A League franchise last month. Dubai-based Reid won’t be on the ground but hopes to contribute as much as possible, either directly or indirectly.

“Whatever way I can help and add to the whole project,” says Reid. “The more good people we get involved, the better the actual project will be. Across my career I learnt so many different things, lots of ups and downs, not only from the physical side but also the mental side and [how to] go through those barriers.”

Reid’s path was different, given his move to Europe as a 10-year-old, into a superior footballing landscape, though there are basic universal foundations.

“It’s about getting prepared physically and mentally,” says Reid. “Footballing wise, what kids need, they need to be pressured every single day. When I was growing up I wasn’t amazing. I was okay, but I wasn’t by any means the best – but [at 16] I went into a programme training up to three times a day.”

There was a 6am session before school, then an evening session and sometimes a lunchtime element.

“It sounds hard but you get used to it,” says Reid. “Prior to that, I was training two or three times a week. Now it was 10 or 12. But it’s not like they are flogging you for three hours, it’s specific work, an hour here, an hour there but all those hours add up at the end of the year and physically the older you get the more you are able to handle.”

A major turning point came halfway through that year, when a group of young African players arrived in Denmark to train at the same academy, creating intense competition.

“They were the same age but physically, they were way more ready than we were,” says Reid of the group, who were mostly Nigerian. “They were stronger, fitter, faster. So that meant every single day, you were never able to relax, the development that we got at that age was vital. There are different pathways you can go on but that helped me immensely. Without that experience I wouldn’t have gone on to where I played.”

Reid isn’t advocating pushing kids too early and there is a balance with fun and enjoyment. But small, incremental lessons can make a profound difference on the path to becoming the best athlete possible.

“The earlier you can give them education about little things; like ‘Hey guys, maybe we shouldn’t be eating McDonald’s three times a week’ for example, or maybe a stretch after the game is a good idea, you can start to affect things on a small scale into their minds,” says Reid. “So later when you start to make it you are aware of things and the jump isn’t so extreme. Because at that stage you have to cope with a lot more; the game going faster, playing with older players, pressure, competition…there is a lot of stuff you have to take on board and everyone is different.”

Reid played his last competitive match in October 2022, captaining the All Whites against the Socceroos at Eden Park. He has barely kicked a ball since – “I don’t know how that would look” – with morning runs and gym work his main exercise. The family have enjoyed their UAE stint, particularly 9-year-old twins Ariana and Damien – “They enjoy the outdoors with sport and are very rarely home”.

Reid spent a year building a house – “longer than expected” - and has doing consultancy work for his former player agency BTAM. He has no ambition to become an agent but wants to “carve his own niche”, helping players and clubs across different aspects.

Reid had followed the news about a potential new Auckland A League franchise, then got more insight from Brown, when he visited the All Birds’ entrepreneur in the USA. Now it is a reality, with the inaugural match on October 19 against Brisbane, after a 10-month hustle to build a club from the ground up, assemble a squad, hire key staff and find commercial partners. That rush means the first season won’t be straightforward – on or off the pitch – but Reid expects the long term payoffs to be immense, something that could help change the sport. It’s a huge fillip for players – who can live and breathe professional football in their city – but it doesn’t end there.

“How amazing it is for a parent,” says Reid. “If you are driving your kids to football three or four times a week, you have a pathway on your doorstep, where there is a carrot at the end of it. Trust me, I know, we have kids as well, there are loads of hours that go into it. That will be the great bit, especially for Kiwis, there is something at the end of the tunnel they can work towards. You need that for providing hope and opportunities and it is all down to providing structure and the young kids have people they can look up to. Not only in New Zealand but in the [Pacific] region.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission