One substitute jogging along the touchline appeared a little less athletic and somewhat rounder than the others. Armed with a laptop, I found the temptation irresistible. "Andy Reid looked more like the winner of a competition to be part of Roy Keane's squad for a day than a professional footballer," I typed.

A slight exaggeration and a bit of a cheap shot perhaps but it was Sunderland v Wigan and making the match report interesting had turned into a struggle destined to endure until the new £4m signing from Charlton ran on.

Reid's first act revealed a velvet first touch as he expertly dispatched a sumptuous crossfield pass towards Daryl Murphy, whose ensuing 25-yard shot sealed Sunderland's victory.

It was February 2008 and, if Keane's newly promoted side were learner drivers in the Premier League, Reid had begun teaching them clutch control.

Whether deployed wide or, even better, as a central playmaker, his wonderful left foot, gloriously varied passing range, adroit dead-ball ability and occasionally spectacular finishing undeniably helped avert relegation.

More importantly the Dubliner served as an antidote to a sport increasingly dominated by fully ripped, formidably pacey, six-foot-plus athletes choreographed by formulaic coaches harbouring an often blind faith in Prozone statistics and the virtues of high-octane pressing.

Quite apart from an innate ability to put his foot on the ball, slow things down and introduce calibrated passing triangles, Reid possessed imagination. In an era when too many footballers play as if painting by numbers, arguably the best Irish midfielder of his generation much preferred improvisation.

Admittedly the attendant risks sometimes prompted concessions of possession and extravagant indulgence in 'Hollywood' balls. Allied to niggling injuries and less than Usain Bolt-esque acceleration, such vulnerabilities convinced Steve Bruce that even a newly slimline Reid had no place in Sunderland's high-tempo future. There was a sense of inevitability about the headline which late last month declared: "Black Cat turns into Tangerine."

Blackpool have secured a treasure but Ian Holloway's reluctance to accommodate his new No43 and Charlie Adam indicates an uncertainty about displaying it. Let us hope Reid does not do a Gaizka Mendieta and, almost imperceptibly, fade into virtual invisibility.

Mendieta's highly technical, richly creative playmaking presence made Steve McClaren's Middlesbrough a joy to watch. Once Valencia's midfield catalyst, Mendieta arrived on Teesside from Lazio in 2003 and, until serious injury intervened, the erstwhile European footballer of the year regularly shone.

His recovery coincided with Gareth Southgate's managerial accession and the new manager swiftly let slip: "Mendi's computer stats worry me." If there seemed an ominous sense of déjà vu when Bruce subsequently discussed Reid's "physical limitations", at least the Irishman was not, like a fully fit Spaniard, placed in his club's deep freeze. "I was poorly treated," says Mendieta who, despite not departing Boro until June 2008, made his final appearance in December 2006. "It was a pity."

Rather like Reid, the 5ft 8in Mendieta did not fit the identikit of a modern midfielder and, lacking a manager willing to craft a team around his elusive guile, was cast aside.

Shola Ameobi could sympathise. An unpredictable amalgam of fine touch, exquisite skill, clever turns, inspired passes and accomplished finishing, the Newcastle striker's unorthodox talent does not always sit comfortably with today's tick-box culture. As his former England Under-21 coach, Howard Wilkinson, reflected: "Shola's definitely got something, I'm just not sure what."

Ameobi splits managerial opinion as he divides defences but Newcastle almost always excite when spearheaded by their Nigerian Geordie. Is it purely coincidental that Ameobi's imagination has, like Mendieta's and Reid's, long been fuelled by the sort of eclectic reading habit which, hats off, recently saw the latter getting to grips with Ulysses? While Reid's hinterland extends to a Bob Dylan inspired singer-songwriting passion, the Velvet Underground-loving Mendieta once hosted a cult Spanish radio music show.

If the relationship between creative off-field thinking and on-pitch invention may be the stuff of worthwhile discussion, so too is debating which Premier League managers would dare simultaneously to field an Ameobi, a Mendieta and a Reid?

Owen Coyle? Steve Kean? Mark Hughes? Alan Pardew? Holloway? My money's on Roberto Martínez.