IT'S just as well Peter Reid has the not inconsiderable matter of a Division One play-off to occupy his tortured mind on Sunday.

For if there was ever a case of divided loyalty, then the Sunderland manager is suffering it ... big style.

"I'm caught between the devil and the deep blue sea," says the former England midfield ace who is being torn in two by his affection for his two former clubs.

His first love was Wanderers, where his career began and where he made his name, but Everton was his big love, where he hit the big time - the FA Cup, League Championship, European Cup Winners Cup, 13 England caps and PFA Footballer of the Year award - fulfilling the potential that was nurtured at Burnden Park and making an absolute mockery of the £60,000 fee that took him to Goodison Park.

"Don't ask me to decide!" he says, revealing the scale of his anguish, "because I can't. "Bolton still has a big place in my heart. I still have a house down here and my daughter's a season ticket holder at the Reebok. What can I say?

"They were my first club and my first love, gave me my debut and I was there when I got into the England U-21s. I've got great memories and great affection for a great club.

"I desperately want them to do well."

Ah, but what about Everton? We're talking here about the boy from Huyton, who supported Liverpool as a kid and was at the heart of the Goodison revival that broke the red dominance on Merseyside. Now a true blue, he'll forever hold a place in the hearts of the faithful there and doesn't try to hide the fact that the feeling is mutual.

"A massive club," he says passionately, perhaps disguising a sense of regret and sympathy considering their current plight.

"I had a lot of success there and Howard (Kendall), Adrian Heath (Kendall's No 2) and myself go back a long way. Great friends I have a lot admiration for but, having said that, I speak to Colin Todd a lot. He's got family up in the North-east and I've looked after him and Phil Brown when they've wanted tickets."

There's no point Reid even trying to weigh up the pros and cons of the matter with one of his old clubs certain to go down at the other's expense.

"I'm in a no-win situation," he says with genuine anguish. "Whichever way it goes, I'm a loser.

"I wish there could be a way they could both survive but we know that can't happen. I'll be gutted whichever one of them goes down."

He whinces though as Wanderers' trip to Chelsea jogs memories of a previous visit to Stamford Bridge and the famous 1978 fixture when Ian Greaves' side was 3-0 up and lost 4-3.

"It was one of the craziest games I've played in," he recalls. "We were cruising it, playing them off the park and 20 minutes later we were walking off, beaten.

"It was as though someone had thrown the magic boomerang! We were 3-0 up then time stood still. When we woke up, we'd lost 4-3 - it was a nightmare!"

Sunderland are Reid's priority now, of course, and he is hoping that when the games kick off at Goodison and Stamford Bridge on Sunday, his young side will have played their way into a winning position in the first leg of their play-off semi-final at Sheffield United on their way to following Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough back into the Premiership.

"My players have done brilliantly," he says proudly. "If you take away the first 10 games when we were beaten in five, they've only lost three in 36 - and that's fantastic for such a young team.

"I can't praise them enough."

And when you sweep all the sentiment to one side, that really is all that matters.

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