Weir, David

Early years

David Weir was born on May 10, 1970 in Falkirk . He graduated from the local Woodlands High School .

David received his football education at the Celtic Youth Academy in Glasgow , but at the end of the course the Celts did not begin to sign a professional contract with him. After that, David left for the United States , where he began to study at the University of Evansville , while playing for the football team of this educational institution. In 1990, the Scot was awarded the title of best player in the first division in the Socker among university teams according to the version of the National Association of University Sports .

Falkirk

In 1991, David returned from the United States to his native Falkirk, where he signed a contract with a local club . For four seasons spent as part of Falkirk, Weir played 134 matches, scoring 1 goal. In 1993, David with the “children” won the Challenge Cup , winning the St. Mirren club 3-0 in the final match, which took place on December 12 at the Fier Park Stadium’s Motherwell .

Heart of Midlothian

On June 30, 1996, David signed a contract with the Edinburgh Heart of Midlotian team. Weir’s debut at Hearts took place on August 14 of the same year, when “hearts” met with the Stenhausmuir club as part of the League Cup . Three days later, hitting the Kilmarnock gates, David opened the scoring for his goals in the Heart of Midlothian.

September 16, Weir was first removed from the field for the first time in his professional career - this happened in a match with the Rangers , when, with more than unconvincing refereeing, the referee of the match for twenty minutes showed a red card to four Hearts players ^{[6] [7]} .

In the next football year, the “hearts” beat all the same “rangers” in the Scottish Cup final - this trophy was the second for David in his career.

In the winter transfer window of the 1998/99 season, Weir was bought by the English Everton for 250 thousand pounds. In total for the “Hearts” David played 116 meetings, hit the opponents' goal 20 times.

Everton

Weir signed a contract with the Toffee on February 16, 1999 . The next day, the Scot, taking part in the match against Middlesbrough , made his debut in the Everton ^[8] .

The eight years during which Weir defended the colors of the Merseyside Club are the peak of David's career. During this time, he became the main central defender of the club, was elected captain of the team, made his debut in European competitions, played 269 matches during this time, scored 10 goals.

Rangers

On January 16, 2007, 36-year-old Weir returned to Scotland, signing a 6-month contract with the Rangers. The deal was initiated by a former Everton mentor, Walter Smith , who acquired David for the butterscotch. The agreement with the “rangers” suggested that Weir, at the end of the 2007/08 season, ends his career as a footballer and becomes one of the coaches of the Glazgovites ^{[9] [10]} . On January 21, David made his Jersey debut with Dunfermline Athletic ^[11] .

Weir confidently won a place in the main Rangers and showed an excellent game for Glazgovtsev. On April 8, after a “jersey” fight with “St. Mirren”, following which David was recognized as the best player of the match, the defender said that he felt the strength to continue playing for the club in the next football year ^[12] . The Rangers immediately contacted Weir's agent to review the terms of the new contract. As a result, after successful negotiations on April 19, David signed a cooperation agreement with the Glasgowers for another year ^{[13] [14]} .

July 31, Weir scored his first goal for the Jersey - it happened in the match of the qualifying round of the Champions League against the Montenegrin club Zeta ^{[15] [16]} . In the 2007/08 season, David again showed an excellent game. Despite his solid football standards, he took part in all the Rangers games this season, of which there were 61. The tandem of the central jersey defenders, which Weir formed with Spaniard Carlos Cuellar , many experts called the best in Scotland in the last 10-15 years. In the same season, David, as part of the Glasgow team, became the owner of the Country Cup and League Cup. On July 3, he again postponed his retirement from football, signing his next one-year contract. ^{[17] [18]}

On April 3, 2009, Weir was elected the new captain of the team instead of Barry Ferguson , who was deprived of a blindfold due to an incident with drinking alcohol in the location of the Scottish national team and the subsequent life suspension from playing for her ^{[19] [20]} . Under the leadership of the new leader, the Rangers made a “ golden double ” at the end of the season, winning the national championship and winning the national cup. In the summer, David and the Jersey entered into a new one-year collaboration agreement ^{[21] [22]} .

In March 2010, Weir was recognized as the “ Player of the Month ” following the results of February ^[23] .

Leading the Rangers to the next championship title in the 2009/10 season, the captain of the Glasgow team was awarded the title of “Best Player of the Year in the Scottish Premier League” ( Eng. Clydesdale Bank Premier League Player of the Year ) ^[24] . On May 7, 2010, Weir’s merits were recognized by the country's journalists, who also recognized him as “ Player of the Year ”. David became the oldest player to receive this prize ^[25] .

On May 12, reports appeared in the press that the Rangers' management intends to conduct a significant cleaning of the squad in the offseason, having parted with six age-old football players - Weir was included in this number ^[26] . However, despite these rumors, on June 30 it was announced that the veteran had signed another one-year contract with the Glasgowers ^[27] .

On December 7 , taking part in the Champions League match , in which the Rangers met the Turkish Bursaspor , Weir repeated the record of the main club tournament in Europe, becoming along with the Italian Alessandro Kostakurta the oldest player who participated in the League meeting - at the time of the game with crocodiles ”David was 40 years and 211 days ^{[28] [29]} .

As a result of the 2010/11 season, Weir with the Jersey became the three-time champion of Scotland ^[30] . On May 26 of the same year, it was announced that Weir would be inducted into the Rangers Club Hall of Fame. David became the first player in the history of the Glasgow team to receive such an honor, being on the current contract with the Jersey ^[31] . On July 17, the Rangers captain again postponed his retirement from football, prolonging the contract with the Glasgowers for another year ^{[32] [33] [34]} .

On January 17, 2012, Weir announced that, by mutual agreement with the club, he was leaving the club to pursue a career in England ^[3] . In early February, the footballer trained for a short time with Sheffield United to maintain his athletic form ^[35] .

Return to Everton

On February 21, 2012, the Everton press service disseminated information that Weir had returned to the Liverpool team and would help Alan Stubbs train the toffee reserve staff ^[4] . In addition, the player had the right to take part in the matches of the “blue” as a player. This David took advantage of on the day of his return to the Liverpool club, having entered the field in the “ mini-derby ” - the match of reserve teams “Everton” and “ Liverpool ” ^[4] .

As part of the Tartan Army, Weir made his debut on May 27, 1997 in a duel in which the Scots played against Wales ^[36] . David scored the only goal in the national team against the Latvian national team on October 6, 2001 ^[37] .

A participant in the 1998 world championship , he played two matches at this tournament - against Morocco ^[38] and Norway ^[39] .

In 2002, Weir was expelled from the national team for criticizing head coach Bertie Vogts after the qualifying match for Euro 2004 with the Faroe Islands ^[40] . The new Scots mentor, Walter Smith, in December 2004 managed to persuade David to return to the national team.

On September 6, 2006, he played the 50th match as part of the Tartan Army. This happened in the match Scotland - Lithuania ^[41] .

On August 24, 2010, 40-year-old Weir was called up to the national team for the qualifying matches for the 2012 European Championship with the national teams of Lithuania and Liechtenstein ^[42] . Having played on September 3 in a duel with the Lithuanians, David became the oldest player to participate in an official meeting in the history of the Tartan Army ^{[43] [44]} .

In total, Weir spent 69 matches for the national team, scored one goal. Four times led the Scots to international matches with a captain's armband ^[5] .

Scotland Matches and Goals

Total: 69 matches / 1 goal; 28 wins, 17 draws, 24 losses.

Summary statistics of games / goals for the national team

Team Achievements

  Falkirk

• First Division Winner: 1993/94
• Challenge Cup Winner: 1993/94

  Heart of Midlothian

• Scottish Cup Winner: 1997/98

  Rangers

• Champion of Scotland (3) : 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11
• Scottish Cup Winner (2) : 2007/08, 2008/09
• Scottish League Cup Winner (3) : 2007/08, 2009/10, 2010/11

Personal Achievements

• Scottish National Football Team Honors List : Introduced in 2006
• Scottish Football Journalist Association Player of the Year 2010
• Scottish Premier League Player of the Month : February 2010

• Player profile on soccerbase.com
• Weira Pictures and Statistics on sporting-heroes.net
• Player profile on Transfermarkt
• Worldfootball.net profile
• David Weir at the Scottish Football Association website
• National Team Profile at londonhearts.com