DAVID WEIR is sitting at a table in the Blue Room inside Ibrox.
It is where Rangers traditionally unveil their new manager, the back wall of the room taken up with a mural featuring all those who have filled the post throughout the years. It is not why Weir is here, of course.
The Rangers defender is at Ibrox to launch his autobiography but, given the setting, it seems appropriate to ask him whether he can envisage an artist being summoned to Ibrox one day to start adding his portrait to the pantheon of former managers.
Weir, not the greatest when it comes to self-promotion, smiles bashfully at the prospect but does not rule it out completely.
“You never know,” he says quietly, although you can be sure he’s thought about it. Weir sees his future in management -- he is already helping coach the youth teams at Murray Park -- but the career change won’t come about until he has wrung every last drop out of his playing career. Second guessing when he may finally retire is a futile business.
For years, Weir was asked whether the time had now come for him to hang up the boots, and every season he defied convention by playing on. Now he doesn’t get asked the question any more.
His decision to continue on beyond his 41st birthday torpedoed the idea that he was waiting for the perfect moment to depart. Walter Smith, the manager who signed him for Rangers in 2007, was walking away from Rangers, the ownership of the club was set to change hands, and as captain he had just lifted a third successive Scottish Premier League title.
It seemed as good a time to go as any, but Weir felt he still had more to give on the field. New manager Ally McCoist was eager to keep him and a fresh one-year deal was penned.
Little wonder he has elected to call his autobiography Extra Time. “It would have been easy to walk away in the summer and it would probably have been a natural time to have done so,” he admits.
“Time will tell if it was the right decision or not, but I didn’t feel like I was ready to walk away. Obviously, it was the end for Walter, and he felt it was the right time to move on, but I didn’t feel the same. I felt I could still contribute and wanted to do so.”
Weir has seemed to have thus far defied the ageing process that sees most professionals call it a day before they turn 35, although he is currently sidelined with injury. With Rangers exiting first the Champions League and then the Europa League at the start of the season, he concedes it has been a frustrating time to be inactive.
“I’ve been lucky since coming here that I’ve not missed a lot of football in the previous four seasons. This is a new experience for me as I’ve never sat in the stand and watched games. I enjoy it, as I like watching football, but I’d much rather be out there playing.
“You want to be out there helping. I thought I would have been back fit by now, but I’ve had a bit of a setback. I just want to get it right so that when I am back I know I’m ready and I won’t break down again.”
Weir’s determination to continue playing is not simply because he has nothing else to do. He has had offers in the past to make the transition into coaching, most notably from David Moyes, the Everton manager, who has made repeated attempts to persuade Weir to join his staff.
With the player still based in Cheshire it would seem a logical next step, but Weir has repeatedly rebuffed the efforts of the man he still calls gaffer. “I’ve had the chance before to get involved [in management] but all the people I know and respect in football tell you to play on as long as you can. I’ve obviously played longer than most but they always say don’t give it up if you don’t have to. The gaffer [Moyes] has been great with me and offered me a job the last two or three years and said there’s a position for me there [at Everton] if I wanted it.
“I know that by not accepting that [offer] I’m putting it at risk as I can’t take it for granted that he’ll continue to think of me in that respect. So I’m taking a bit of a chance as I know working for him would be a great experience. I know how knowledgeable he is, but he told me to play as long as I can, so when I tell him I want to keep playing he understands and backs my decision. That gives me confidence that I’m doing the right thing.”
The longevity of his playing career has seen Weir regularly held up as this clean-living, model professional, an example for others to aspire to, but he denies his story is any more remarkable than that of those around him.
“I don’t recognise the guy people talk about as I don’t think I do anything different to the other lads. I appreciate because I’m older I do get held up [as a role model] and that’s not a bad thing. It’s maybe good that people can see you can still play on at this age if you look after yourself, but I definitely don’t see myself as a paragon of virtue or anything like that. I’ve just been very lucky to have been surrounded by good people.”
- Extra Time: My Autobiography, by David Weir, published by Hodder & Stoughton, £20.
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