David (who had a twin sister Mary)[3][4] and siblings including Jimmy, Max[5] and Jack[6] were born in Scotland (so were not eligible to play for the Ireland national team under the rules of the time) while Willie and Bob were born in Ulster; all the boys became footballers to some extent.

[1] Reid began his football career alongside his brothers at Distillery in the late 1910s, winning two caps for the Irish League representative team side in 1919 and two consecutive County Antrim Shield winners' medals.

Despite having been highly expected to complete a permanent move back to Distillery in the summer of 1928, Reid was convinced to join the new Ballymena team who had been recently formed to compete in the Irish League for the 1928–29 season.

The Ballymena side led by Reid proved their debut season success was no fluke with back-to-back Irish Cup final appearances in 1930 and 1931.

He returned North back to the Irish League for the 1934–35 season, having retired from playing to become manager of Glentoran, but only lasted until September 1934 before resigning his post at The Oval.