By Mark Lawrenson BBC Sport

It goes without saying that Peter Reid will be bitterly disappointed after being sacked by Sunderland.

He is a very pragmatic character as we know but he genuinely did think the club would turn the corner.

Sunderland sack Reid

The great problem - and the reason he was eventually shown the door - was the lack of wins in the last year.

The victories have been relatively few and far between throughout that period.

They have spent a lot of money bringing in a number of new players but the situation has not improved.

Reid needs to think about his next step

But, rather than dwell on his recent difficulties, I think we should take a look at the whole seven-and-a-half years he has been in charge at Sunderland.

Apart from the last nine months, he has done an outstanding job at the Stadium of Light.

To last seven-and-a-half years, almost all of it in the Premiership, is an achievement for anybody.

After seven-and-a-half months you usually get a watch!

As to the next step - who knows? That is entirely up to him.

If he wants to, he could be on the Match of the Day couch with me this weekend.

But, in the long-term, the simple fact is he enjoys management - in fact he loves it.

He thrives on the games and getting his team to play and getting the results.

I would think he will probably have a little holiday and then there will be a couple of weeks where the telephone goes mad.

Then there's a period where it stops ringing and I think that's when he will sit down and make a decision about what to do next.

But, knowing Peter, I would expect to see him back in management before too long - that's for certain.