Billy Reid (footballer, born 1963)

William Reid (born 18 July 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who recently was assistant manager to Graham Potter at Chelsea.

Billy Reid
Reid as manager of Hamilton Academical in 2009
Personal information
Full name William Reid
Date of birth (1963-07-18) 18 July 1963 (age 60)
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Team information
Current team
jobless = Midfielder, defender
Youth career
Ashfield[1]
Petershill[1]
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1989 Queen of the South 159 (22)
1989–1991 Clyde 67 (1)
1991–1994 Hamilton Academical 102 (7)
1994–1995 Stirling Albion 16 (0)
Total 344 (30)
Managerial career
2002 Clyde (caretaker)
2004–2005 Clyde
2005–2013 Hamilton Academical
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Reid played for Queen of the South, Clyde, Hamilton Academical and Stirling Albion during the 1980s and 1990s. After a spell as caretaker manager of Clyde in 2002, he was appointed manager in 2004. After one season as Clyde manager, Reid was appointed manager of Hamilton. The club won promotion to the Scottish Premier League in 2008, when Reid also won the PFA Scotland Manager of the Year award. Despite being relegated in 2011, Reid continued as Hamilton manager until April 2013. In November 2013, he moved to Swedish club Östersund as an assistant coach.

Playing career edit

In his playing days Reid started off at Dumfries club, Queen of the South where he was signed by Nobby Clark.[2] Reid was later remembered by teammate Tommy Bryce as one of the best players at the club.[2] The three were part of Queen's 1985–86 Scottish Second Division promotion success. It was at Queens where Reid gave his longest service as a player.

Reid then played for Clyde and Hamilton Academical before finishing his career with Stirling Albion. He worked as a printer while playing part-time.[1]

Coaching career edit

Clyde edit

Reid began his managerial career in 2002 with a caretaker appointment at a club he had played for, Scottish First Division club Clyde. This was in between the departure of Allan Maitland and the appointment of Alan Kernaghan. He took over the Bully Wee on a permanent basis in July 2004 following Kernaghan's two-year spell in charge. Reid took the club to third place in the 2004–05 Scottish First Division in his only season in charge.[1]

Hamilton Academical edit

Reid then became manager at a club competing in the same division as Clyde and another which he had previously served as a player, Hamilton Academical, taking over from Allan Maitland, also a former Clyde boss. Working under owner Ronnie MacDonald,[3] he took the Accies to the 2007–08 Scottish First Division title earning promotion to the Scottish Premier League. He won that season's PFA Scotland Manager of the Year award.

After leading Hamilton to an impressive seventh-place finish in the Scottish Premier League in 2009–10, Reid was linked with a move to a number of clubs[4] including Swansea City, but rejected their approach claiming to have unfinished business with Hamilton.[5][6] Hamilton were relegated from the top flight in 2011.[7] Reid left Hamilton by mutual consent on 3 April 2013, after more than seven years in the job.[8]

Östersund edit

Despite being linked to the manager's job at Morton, Reid became assistant manager at Östersund in November 2013 to Graham Potter.[9][10] At the end of his second year in Sweden Östersund were runners-up in the 2015 Superettan earning promotion to the top flight. In 2017 they finished fifth in the league and won the 2016–17 Svenska Cupen. This earned a place in the 2nd qualification round of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League in which they eliminated Galatasaray. They also eliminated PAOK before finishing second in the group behind Athletic Bilbao eliminating Zorya Luhansk and Hertha BSC. They were knocked out in the next round by Arsène Wenger's Arsenal 4–2 on aggregate.[10]

Swansea City edit

Reid was appointed assistant manager at Swansea City on 11 June 2018, again working with Graham Potter.[11] Swansea finished in 10th place in their first season back in the Championship after relegation from the Premier League.[12] The Swans made the quarter final of the FA Cup controversially losing to Manchester City.[13]

Brighton & Hove Albion edit

Potter was appointed as the new Brighton & Hove Albion manager on 20 May 2019 where Reid, coach Bjorn Hamberg and head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay moved to the Sussex club alongside Potter.[14] Reid was set to take charge of Brighton's away fixture at Leicester City on 23 January 2022, due to Potter testing positive for Covid–19. However, Reid himself later tested positive meaning first team coach Björn Hamberg had to take charge of the 1–1 draw.[15][16]

Chelsea edit

In September 2022,[17] Reid moved to Chelsea from Brighton as Potter's assistant coach,[18] along with attacking coach Bruno Saltor Grau, defensive coach Bjorn Hamberg, and goalkeeping coach Ben Roberts.[17][19] Just over 6 months in, after a sustained run of poor results, Reid left Chelsea along with Potter.[20][21]

Personal life edit

His son, Billy Jnr, was also a footballer, who played for Clyde.

Managerial statistics edit

As of match played 2 April 2013
Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
Clyde (caretaker) 8 February 2002 3 March 2002 3 1 2 0 33.3
Clyde 9 July 2004 2 June 2005 44 20 13 11 45.5
Hamilton Academical 2 June 2005 3 April 2013 343 129 83 131 37.6
Total 390 150 98 142 38.5

Honours edit

Player edit

Queen of the South

Manager edit

Hamilton Academical

Assistant manager edit

Östersund

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d "Reporter David Friel talks to Clyde manager Billy Reid". Kirkintilloch Herald. 23 March 2005. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  2. ^ a b "QosFC: Queens Legends".
  3. ^ "Hamilton chairman Ronnie MacDonald on why he rates Billy Reid as the top manager in the SPL". Daily Record. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  4. ^ Swan, Craig (28 June 2010). "Accies boss Billy Reid in frame for Leicester City hotseat".
  5. ^ "BBC Sport - Football - Hamilton Accies boss Billy Reid explains Swansea snub". 13 July 2010.
  6. ^ McDermott, Scott (12 July 2010). "Billy Reid: I snubbed Swansea hotseat to finish my work at Hamilton".
  7. ^ "BBC Sport - Football - St Johnstone 1-0 Hamilton". 10 May 2011.
  8. ^ "Manager Billy Reid leaves Hamilton Academical by mutual consent".
  9. ^ Nilsson, Martin (27 November 2013). "Han blir ÖFK:s nya tränare" (in Swedish). OP. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  10. ^ a b Fisher, Stewart (24 August 2017). "Swedish success story leaves Billy on the brink of the big time". The Herald. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  11. ^ "Graham Potter named new Swansea City manager". BBC Sport. 11 June 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  12. ^ "Blackburn Rovers 2–2 Swansea City". BBC Sport. 5 May 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  13. ^ "Swansea City 2–3 Manchester City". BBC Sport. 16 March 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  14. ^ "Graham Potter appointed new Brighton manager after leaving Swansea". BBC Sport. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  15. ^ "Potter on - BBC Sport". BBC Sport. 21 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Leicester 1-1 Brighton: Danny Welbeck header earns Seagulls a draw - BBC Sport". BBC Sport. 23 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  17. ^ a b Naylor, Andy. "Graham Potter's Chelsea staff: The actor, the ex-supermarket manager, the Brighton icon". The Athletic. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022.
  18. ^ "Billy Reid Profile". Chelsea FC. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  19. ^ "Introducing Graham Potter's Chelsea backroom staff". Chelsea FC. 14 September 2023. Archived from the original on 14 September 2022.
  20. ^ "Chelsea: 'Difficult 24 hours' after Graham Potter sacking - Bruno Saltor". BBC. 3 April 2023. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023.
  21. ^ Flood, George; Kinsella, Nizaar (3 April 2023). "Chelsea exit for Graham Potter assistant Billy Reid but rest of coaching staff staying put for now". The Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023.

External links edit