ALBION enjoyed a thumping start to the season with an emphatic away victory over Watford at the weekend.

Fans are in dreamland with the club currently sitting in the Champions League spots, but there could be an unusual reason for the upturn in fortunes.

Head coach Graham Potter and his assistant Billy Reid made headlines when they persuaded players at their previous club, Swedish outfit Ostersund FK, to perform the Swan Lake ballet in front of a 2,000 strong crowd.

This was one of several “cultural projects” set up by the pair to encourage players to leave their comfort zones in order to grow.

Questioned on whether these methods might be repeated at Albion, with stars such as Yves Bissouma and Lewis Dunk, Billy Reid said: “We have seen the effect the culture programme has at Ostersund, it was a real team bonding thing. That’s really important for us.

“At the moment nothing is planned, but watch this space.”

But Reid is going above and beyond with his commitment to the arts.

Since moving to the coast he has thrown himself into the cultural scene and will be making his big screen debut in a feature film based on a Brighton woman who became the first to swim the English Channel in 1927.

He received a letter from the UK’s youngest film’s director, 19-year-old Albion season ticket holder Elliot Hasler, who contacted him after learning of the management pair’s cultured approach to the game.

Billy said: “I did my homework and saw Elliot was an up and coming director.

“So I replied and said ‘oh, I would love to be involved, I love things like this’.

“After one phone conversation he told me I had got the part and we have spoken a few times since.”

After learning more about Billy online, Elliot decided he had found the perfect role for him – a pub landlord.

Elliot’s father Simon sent Billy a text letting him know the news, and said he received a “hysterical laughing face emoji” in response.

Billy said: “When I heard I was going to be playing a landlord I thought that was perfect for me as I have always been outgoing.

“You could probably call this a new challenge but coming into the city I thought this was a new chapter and decided to go for it.

“I’m really looking forward to it now, just so long as it doesn’t affect my role with Albion.”

Filming for the production, called Vindication Swim, is set to begin in the next few weeks.

Director Elliot, who has been heralded as “the next Spielberg” by several critics when he released his first film aged just 16, has said he wants it to be the “next Quadrophenia”.