Stewart and Flo turn the tide for Reid

Peter Reid never saw much of his local MP when he was growing up in Huyton but he understands Harold Wilson's most famous saying. A week is a long time.

In the space of seven days, Reid, who after last Saturday's defeat by Everton appeared to some almost resigned, has steered Sunderland to their first league victory at Leeds since the days when their attack was led by Brian Clough, seen the Stadium of Light be granted England's pivotal European Championship qualifier with Turkey and, just as the transfer window closed, he secured the services of Tore Andre Flo and Marcus Stewart, strikers desperately needed to shore up what is statistically the Premiership's feeblest attack.

When Reid smiled to the cameras at the press conference at the Stadium of Light to announce the signings of Stewart and Flo in a deal worth £10m and said: "You would not believe the week I have had," they were the words of a vindicated man. Against the odds, he has bought not just two fine strikers but, against the backdrop of venomous criticism of his regime by its own supporters, something much more valuable, time.

Reid is, unsurprisingly, not in favour of transfer windows. Flo had been toying with Sunderland for a couple of months, letting it be known that his wife preferred life in Glasgow, while the deal to bring Stewart from Ipswich was concluded in four days. "Someone will eventually challenge the transfer window in court and will win," he said. "If you are a footballer who is out of work because of it, how can you deny them?"

There are many myths about Reid's regime on the Wear. He will not spend money on players, while the wages he offers are too low to attract high-quality footballers. In fact, Reid has spent in net terms more than Arsène Wenger and Sunderland's wage bill is in the top six among Premiership clubs. When Ken Bates, the Chelsea chairman, sneered that managers like Reid could no longer write out cheques and would have to learn to coach, he was picking on precisely the wrong man. In the past 12 months, Sunderland have outlayed £22m, reaping the benefits of not spending crazily during the Premiership's wild years.

"You have to give credit to the people in charge. The finances at this football club are stable. It's got one of the best stadiums in the country, which is paid for, a state of the art academy, which will open in January, and we haven't got massive debts. We can do business now."

Significantly, his recent signings, Claudio Reyna, Joachim Bjorklund, Jason McAteer, Phil Babb, Thomas Myhre, Stephen Wright, Flo and Stewart have either been English-speakers or Scandinavians with a good command of the language. Reid's failures in the transfer market – Lilian Laslandes, Nicolas Medina, Milton Nuñez and Carsten Fredgaard, who between them played barely 10 games for Sunderland at a cost of more than £10m – were the products of trying to bargain hunt abroad. "You have to have a broader outlook on things but lately I have been looking for players who can understand me," Reid laughed, adding that his squad was now unquestionably the strongest he had possessed during his seven years there.

Now, it must perform to its potential, beginning with this afternoon's game against Manchester United. However, Kevin Phillips, who has cut a lonely figure lately, should be rejuvenated with the in-depth support he has lacked since Michael Bridges was sold to Leeds in the summer of 1999.

The difference between finishing third and fourth bottom was that Ipswich were forced to dismantle the squad which had taken them into the Uefa Cup last year while Sunderland could expand. Marcus Stewart never expected to come to Wearside, however. "I always hated playing against their back four, I always hated coming here," he said. "Some stayed. Matt Holland had played 250 games for the club and was Mr Ipswich so he didn't go. Hermann's [Hreidarsson] case was that West Brom would be relegated while this time next season Ipswich could be in the Premier League. The bottom line is that I am back in the Premier League with an established club. I'd waited until I was 27 to play in it, after all."

Ultimately, the broken jaw he sustained in a freak training-ground accident proved decisive in Ipswich's decline. It cost him two crucial months in which the East Anglians stumbled along the bottom. And had Ipswich won their opening game of last season, at the Stadium of Light, Phillips might now be lining up alongside Stewart at Portman Road. The dividing line is as slight as that.