David Weir (Scottish footballer)
- This article is about the Scottish footballer. For the 19th century English footballer, see David Weir (English footballer).
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Gillespie Weir | ||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Rangers | ||
| Number | 3 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of November 17, 2007 | |||
David Gillespie Weir (born May 10, 1970 in Falkirk) is a Scottish football player, who currently plays for Rangers in the Scottish Premier League.
Early career
As a teenager, Weir trained with the Celtic youth sides. Unlike the vast majority of European players however, Weir took a detour from his professional career, choosing to play college soccer at the University of Evansville from 1988 to 1991. Weir excelled at Evansville, and was named an NCAA All-American in 1990.
Upon returning from college in 1992, Weir signed with Scottish First Division side Falkirk, for whom he played more than 150 games. In 1996, he moved to Scottish Premier League side Hearts, where he won his only major honour to date, the Scottish Cup in 1998. He left Tynecastle in 1999, when he was purchased by Everton. Weir had played exactly one hundred games for Hearts and scored ten times aswell.
Everton
Weir had a very successful time with the Merseyside club playing regularly for eight years, making 269 appearances (scoring 10 goals in the process), playing in European competition, becoming club captain under two different managers - Walter Smith and David Moyes - and winning the bulk of his Scotland caps on the strength of his performances for the Toffees.
Rangers
On January 16 2007, Weir signed for Rangers on an initial six-month deal after Everton released him from his contract early. He teamed up again with former manager Walter Smith. He made his Rangers debut against Dunfermline Athletic on the 21 January 2007.[1] His performances for the Glasgow club were enough to secure himself a one-year contract. [2] After his man-of-the-match performance against St. Mirren on 8 April 2007, he revealed that he may remain at Rangers for the 2007-08 season after discussing the issue with his family. His agent met with Rangers on April 19 to discuss a possible extension to his contract, which was due to expire at the end of the SPL season. Weir signed a one-year extension to his deal, keeping him at Rangers until the end of the 2007-08 season.[3]
International career
Weir earned his first cap for Scotland in a 1-0 defeat to Wales on 27 May 1997. [4]
Although he retired from international football in 2002, after receiving criticism from the then-manager Berti Vogts, he returned to international football when Walter Smith was appointed as manager in December 2004.
Weir is a member of the Scotland Football Hall of Fame, having won his 50th Scotland cap against Lithuania on 6 September 2006, in which he captained his country to a 2-1 win. [5] He has captained Scotland four times.
Weir is also on the management committee of the Professional Footballers Association.
References
- ^ "Dunfermline 0-1 Rangers". BBC Sport. 2007-01-21. Retrieved 2007-11-13.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Weir complete switch to Rangers". BBC Sport. 2007-01-16. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Weir signs one-year deal at Ibrox". BBC Sport. 2007-04-20. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Scotland v Wales". The SFA Website. 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Lithuania v Scotland". The SFA Website. 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
External links
- David Weir at Soccerbase
- David Weir at the Scottish Football Association
- Photos & stats at sporting-heroes.net
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