Derek Riordan plays for himself, not for Hibs laments Lawrie Reilly

• Lawrie Reilly has questioned striker Derek Riordan's team spirit

But age has not dimmed his memory. Tellingly, he is forced to look back on his old achievements when he visits Easter Road nowadays. It makes the present seem not quite so bleak to recollect the glory he - along with four certain others - helped bring to the club. Reilly played at a time when teams felt able to field five strikers and having watched Scotland struggle without one forward in Prague, is it any wonder he prefers to sit and reminisce during games?

He was, after all, a goal machine, and scored 22 times in just 38 games for Scotland. He was the top goalscorer for seven consecutive seasons at Hibs. It is no surprise that the crowd urged for the ball to be given to Reilly, although as he made clear yesterday it was never just about him. Asked yesterday, at the launch of his autobiography, why he had decided to write a book now, he replied: "That's a good question. Lots of players - even mediocre ones - have written books."

This playful jibe was for the benefit of Pat Stanton, who sat next to Reilly at the top table and is an equally adored son of Easter Road.

"I just know that every week when I come to Easter Road I think of the past," said Reilly. "I am quite happy with what I am thinking about, not what I am watching.

"I am arriving at games and not expecting anything brilliant," he added. "And that's not a good way to be. You should be going to games and thinking your team is going to do it. But at the present moment it doesn't seem like that."

Reilly is surprisingly cool on Derek Riordan, one player many believe helps create a link between the present and the entertainers seen at Easter Road in the past.

"Derek Riordan does not play for the club - he plays for the player," he said. "There can be guys in a better position, and it often happens. But he is only thinking of Derek Riordan, he doesn't think of the Hibs.

"You can't be a selfish striker, you have to have guys who lay the ball on for you. You are not going to get the ball and do it all on your own. Fortunately, God put me onto this world at the right time. He put me together with players who could not be bettered."

Reilly, of course, contributed to the legendary Famous Five forward line at Hibs, made up by Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Willie Ormond and Eddie Turnbull.The last-named returned to the club as a manager and re-affirmed his status as a club great. But in recent times it has proved a lot harder to maintain or even enhance one's status when placed at the helm of the club, evidenced by the present situation.

Reilly laughed that the next manager won't be him, perhaps alert to the inherent danger of popular players returning to the hot seat at the club whose fans they once thrilled. Even Stanton did not have it easy when in charge at Easter Road, although the hazards have become more pronounced of late. The fact a youth coach was fronting the Hibs press briefing prior to tomorrow's match with Kilmarnock said it all. Another Hibs favourite has left the post of manager in a wounded, diminished form. John Hughes follows Franck Sauzee and John Collins in that regard, although the latter did at least end Hibs' trophy famine. Reilly is sympathetic.

"The managers have never had very long," he said. "People expect miracles right away. You are taking over players who are just not good enough. But if I knew the answers then I would be manager," he added. "It's not so much the way you play, it's the results. They are the main thing. And they are desperate for results nowadays. I was fortunate. I played in a team of popular players. It came easy to us. We did not have to suffer any abuse or barracking from the crowd."

• The Life and Times of Last Minute Reilly, Lawrie Reilly with Ted Brack (Black & White publishing, 17.99]