Try telling Billy Reid that he’s become a typecast as an actor in Brighton’s climb towards the Premier League summit and he’s just laughing.

Getting the role of assistant manager at Seagulls, as well as a new sideline as an actor, has required the type of sliding doors he insists on is about good timing and delivery.

As Vindication Swim prepares to reach all good cinemas, the 58-year-old revealed his character as a landlord in the acclaimed director Elliott Hasler’s new film was such a success that he is set up for greater billing in the next blockbuster.

It’s the last chapter in a life less common for the former Clyde and Hamilton manager.

Each day begins with a 20-minute drive from his home to Brighton’s training ground for a start at 8 am, a continuation of five and a half years in Sweden working with Graham Potter during the fairy tale drawing in Ostersunds, since a season at. Swansea before moving to Amex Stadium.

Reid admits that you could not write the script.

He said: “I believe in being in the right place at the right time.

“Wherever I have gone, I’m just trying to be myself. People can either take you or leave you.

“I have never felt that there is any point in trying to change who and what you are and I have always stood by it.

“For some reason, I received a letter from a film producer
ask if I wanted to participate in a movie. I thought it was a settlement and he must have wanted money from me or something.

“I met the director Elliot who is behind the film and it has been great fun. The film has been held back due to Covid interruptions but it will be coming soon.

“It’s a real top movie and I would say I’m a natural but some do not agree.

“I have never been shy in that way, I have always been able to stand up and do my part. Maybe it’s the Glasgow boy coming out of me.

“Vindication Swim will premiere soon so I get a much, much bigger role in his next film – but you just have to wait and see what my role is. I swear to secrecy. ”

Reid’s path to the higher divisions of the English Premier League after leaving Hamilton in 2013 has been well documented.

He said: “My job at Accies was quite successful.

“But I felt that my time in Scotland was not what I wanted it to be at that stage of my career, so I decided to take a different path. Timing in football is a big deal, Graham needed an assistant and the rest is history.

“It was football at the second level at a low level in Sweden and he had only managed in the league over it.

“After a short time working with him, I told people that this guy had high-level football thoughts.

“It was the right time for me to try something different and I just wish I had done it earlier. If you get the opportunity to go abroad, it is good to try.

“I wish I had that chance sooner.”

Reid may have caught the actor bug in Sweden when he performed in a version of the ballet Swan Lake with Ostersunds.

But he believes that a parochial approach within the Scottish psyche is a trend that is holding back the development of our game and he regrets that he did not look beyond the SPFL horizon.

He said: “What surprised me when I came to Sweden was how many of their domestic players moved at a young age to Germany, Italy, Holland and a host of other European nations.

“We do not have that horizon in Scotland. That is not the norm. We have good children here, but how many get the chance to go abroad?

“Maybe it’s starting to widen, Jack Hendry is in Belgium, Liam Henderson is in Italy as well as Aaron Hickey in Bologna. Ryan Gauld was in Portugal – but it is only a small band compared to a country like Sweden.

“It’s a little sad, but why are we not caring enough for our own young players?

“There are good young players in Scotland but not enough of them are developing.

“In Sweden, the game is slower and more technical. In Scotland it is not easy – it is faster and there is less time on the ball – but it does not give quality football in my opinion. ”

Despite eight years of leadership in Sweden and the south, it has not stopped Reid from keeping his main home a few miles outside Glasgow.

The former Bully Wee boss insists he is not attracted to being his own man again as he works with Potter to guide Brighton to the top end of England’s top flight.

He said: “Ambition does not come into it.

“I have been a manager but Graham makes me feel a part of it, I sit on the bench and make decisions with him.

“I have found the transition from manager to assistant easy. I enjoy working with him and we have been quite successful.

“Some people approach life and are always looking for something better but I really enjoy being a part of this group.

“In my opinion, he is a top Premier League manager – and he proves it to everyone.

“It’s remarkable how we ended up in the Premier League and a club like Brighton that seems to get some praise for how we play.

“It’s far from my time to put goals in a van on Clyde and try to find some space to train.”