Reid’s relishing magical journey by Potter’s side
WHEN Billy Reid left Hamilton in 2013, he’d spent nine years at Scottish football’s coalface as a manager and more than he cared to remember as a ball-winning midfielder.
With a CV showcasing a promotion to the top flight, a PFA manager of the year award and a key role in the development of James McArthur and James McCarthy, he could have been forgiven for believing his learning curve had levelled off.
The 54-year-old now knows this to be untrue. The enduring attraction of football is that there are always new cultures and systems to be embraced, fresh ideas and different voices to be considered.
All, of course, predicated by a willingness to look beyond the length of one’s nose.
Reid now admits that a first mention of Ostersunds FK required a flurry of internet research. Then languishing in the Superettan (second tier), the Swedish minnows were vaguely familiar to him on account of the fact they were managed by a friend of a friend in Graham Potter.
He travelled to Scandinavia with an open mind but returned with one already made up. Potter, a journeyman player who’d gone back to university to get a handle on the psychological side of sport, offered to impart his knowledge to him if he’d agree to ride side-saddle as assistant manager.
The upshot was a success story as striking as any witnessed in Swedish football in years.
By the time it ended with Potter and Reid moving to Swansea last week, the journey had taken them to fifth in the top flight, to victory in the Swedish Cup and through a Europa League odyssey that would end with a celebrated defeat to Arsenal.
‘It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my career,’ Reid explained. ‘After spending all of my career in Scotland as a player and a manager, I was ready for a new challenge. The whole experience was an unbelievable education.’
He had certainly earned the chance to broaden his horizons. In his only season in charge of Clyde, 2004-05, he guided the Bully Wee to third in the Championship.
Three years after moving to Hamilton, he took them back to the top flight and successfully battled the odds to keep them there for three years.
When the time came for him to step down, no one doubted his talent. The question was whether someone out there would offer an appropriate opportunity.
‘It was through Graeme Jones — the striker who’s now assistant to Roberto Martinez at Belgium,’ Reid explained of his link-up with Potter.
‘He was my assistant at Hamilton. He and Graham are big friends. So when I left Hamilton he asked me to go to Sweden.
‘I went over to see what it was like and it struck a chord, even though they were almost unheard of.’
Truthfully, Ostersunds, by that point, were beginning to make a noise for themselves.
Under Potter’s guidance, a club only formed in 1996 and coming from a city of just 50,000, had already enjoyed two promotions.
Within two years of Reid arriving, though, their journey to the top flight was complete. They finished eighth in their first season in the Allsvenskan, then fifth but it was to be their success in the 2017 Swedish Cup that paved the way for wider renown through a 14-game Europa League campaign.
‘We managed to get through three qualifying rounds, two of which were against Galatasaray and PAOK Salonika,’ Reid recalled. ‘We were then in a group with Athletic Bilbao, Zoryz Luhansk and Hertha Berlin yet qualified. Tactically, we were very astute. I’ve learned so much from that run.’
It ended in defeat but by no means disgrace against Arsenal. Ostersunds won 2-1 at the Emirates having first lost 3-0 in Sweden to depart with heads held high and reputations enhanced.
‘It did whet the appetite for working in England,’ Reid confessed.
Potter is certainly a fascinating character. When a playing career encompassing Birmingham and Macclesfield Town drew to a close, he added to his degree in American Politics with a Masters in Leadership, Personal & Professional Development and tried to marry it to football.
Lacking the big reputation that would give him a head start in England, he saw Sweden as the perfect place to develop. Reid concurs. He said: ‘The Swedish game is more tactical. For an emerging coach like Graham, it was perfect.’
There’s an open-mindedness to the Swedes that also chimed. The club has its own Culture Academy — designed to take players out of their comfort zones by promoting dance, poetry and singing. ‘How influential these things are, you never know but it was certainly good fun and it worked for us,’ Reid said. ‘I’ve already been asked if we are going to bring that to Swansea but I can’t say it’s at the forefront of our minds right now.’
Potter’s growing reputation meant there was scarcely a vacancy in England in the past year he wasn’t linked with.
Swansea just felt right, though. Relegated from the Premier League after seven seasons, it’s a place crying out for reinvigoration and fresh ideas.
‘There’s a revamp of the football club going on right now, which is something Graham has done before,’ Reid said. ‘We felt at this stage it’s a move that could be profitable to us.’
The irony is that Reid could already have been ensconced at the Liberty Stadium. Back in 2010, word of his success at little Hamilton had reached the valleys.
‘At the time, I was pretty settled and happy in my job,’ he recalled. ‘So I never did speak with them. I’ve never regretted that. It’s funny how things go full circle.’
Nor does he harbour a shred of regret that his career path has taken him from manager to assistant rather than the more conventional route.
‘I’m more than happy working with Graham,’ Reid said. ‘I’m not going to say I don’t want to be a manager in the future but I’m happy looking forward to the next three years working with him.’
There was boundless style to go with the substance under the tutelage of previous regimes at Swansea but both were lost during a troubled last campaign. Their remit is clear.
‘By all accounts, they’d lost their way of playing,’ Reid said. ‘I think that’s the main reason Graham was their No1 candidate. The way his teams play is possession based. They get on the front foot and play attacking football.
‘We can’t wait to get started and continue this adventure we’ve both been on.’
“It’s the best thing I’ve done in my career” “We can’t wait to continue this adventure”