The tenor of much of his music is of rebelliousness mixed with deep passion so it was understandable that Charlie Reid did some agonising before agreeing to become a founding director of Hibernian Supporters Limited.

This is a man who readily acknowledges that current club owner Tom Farmer spared him the prospect of adding the words Easter Road to the list of once important Scottish place names that are 'no more'.

However he has still been repeatedly willing to voice his complaints at the way the club's board has run things, hence that soul-searching before joining an organisation that may be seen by some as overly official.

"I did take some persuading, but I feel that there comes a point where, if you are going to stand on the sidelines and complain about what's going on - and God knows I've done more complaining than almost anybody else - then if the opportunity arises to become more involved, it would be kind of perverse not to take it," Reid admitted.

Many supporters will be in the same position today, wondering whether the presence on the board of Hibernian Supporters Limited of the likes of Reid, Jackie McNamara, one of the club's most popular former players and Kenny MacAskill, the local MSP is sufficient to persuade them to put their money into an organisation that will also have on its board Leeann Dempster, the club's chief executive who may be seen as tainted by association with the club's widely reviled chairman Rod Petrie.

However Reid placed all of that emotion in the historical of the nature of being sport's supporters in general and of this club in particular.

"I suppose I am surprised to be sitting here, given that just a few months ago there were fans protesting outside," he said.

"When I was born, Harry Swan owned this club and he gave us three championships. My old man stood on the terracing and watched us win three leagues (but) someone was telling me the other day that they used to barrack him as well.

"I remember when Tom Hart was in charge. We probably had the most exciting football team in Scotland, back in the 1970s. We've had Kenny Waugh, the Duff and Gray era.

"We almost had Wallace Mercer and cinema screens here at Easter Road... so the club moves on. Sir Tom Farmer moves on, we'll move on.

"The question is what model comes next. Do we have a more egalitarian approach, so supporters have responsibility for acting in the best interests of the club?

"I feel this will bring the Hibernian family back together."

All of this may not be music to the ears of every Hibs supporter, but the fact that Reid is offering this interpretation will strike a chord with many among them.

As he expressed himself he demonstrated the skill of a word-smith who knows how to play on the emotions of an audience which, he knows wants to hear about how things are going to improve on the pitch, rather than how well the club is being run as a business.

"I would hate to see Hibs shrink as a club. To be honest, I think the club has shrunk over the last couple of years," said Reid.

"As much as there is that's been put right, with a fantastic stadium and training facility and as much as I think Rod and Sir Tom have done fantastic things with the club, I think the football ambition of the club has fallen backwards."

Now, Reid believes, the mechanism is in place to allow Hibs supporters to take charge of reversing that process in setting future priorities.

"If we want to change that and take the club forward - and I would like to see Hibs competing for the Premiership title - then we need a very efficient club, but also a model where the fans willingly put in money every month," Reid continued.

"They'll do that because it's going to the football club. It's not going into anybody's pocket. It's going to run the club.

"If we want better goalies, centre halves or strikers, there is no point in sitting on the sidelines moaning about it anymore.

"Here is the opportunity. We buy into the club and ultimately we have the casting vote.

"Then it becomes the responsibility of supporters to raise more money and take the club forward.

"The days of someone coming in and doing it for you are gone."

In emphasising that point he drew comparison between Hibs' situation and that of their currently buoyant but recently crisis-struck neighbours, also pointing to how they got into their respective difficulties that have resulted in both finding themselves in Scottish football's second tier this season.

"It's interesting if you look at the Vladimir Romanov case, how many clubs knocked him back before he bought Hearts," Reid noted.

"I don't know, maybe Hearts fans feel it was all worth it, they got a couple of Scottish Cups, but the mess that was left at the end of it is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

"So the days of someone coming in and putting down millions and millions of quid, dictating how they'll do things, I think they're gone."

Perhaps so, but as Reid and his new fellow directors of Hibernian Supporters Ltd know only too well, just how much of the shortfall those who claim to love their particular club most are prepared to pick up is now about to be tested.