David Weir (Scottish footballer)

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David Weir
Personal information
Full name David Gillespie Weir
Date of birth May 10, 1970 (1970-05-10) (age 38)
Place of birth    Falkirk, Scotland
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position Centre-back
Club information
Current club Rangers
Number 3
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1992–1996
1996–1999
1999–2007
2007–		 Falkirk
Hearts
Everton
Rangers		 133 0(8)
076 0(6)
235 (10)
051 0(2)   
National team2
1997– Scotland 061 0(1)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of May 25, 2008.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of April 24, 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)

David Gillespie Weir (born May 10, 1970 in Falkirk) is a Scottish professional football player, who currently plays for Rangers in the Scottish Premier League.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Weir was born in Falkirk, Scotland, and as a teenager he 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, he signed for then Scottish First Division side Falkirk, for whom he played more than one hundred and fifty games. In 1996, Weir moved to Premier Division side Hearts, where he won his first major honour, the 1998 Scottish Cup. He left Tynecastle three years later, when he was purchased by Everton. Weir had played exactly one hundred games for Hearts and scored ten goals.

[edit] Everton

His Everton debut in a league match against Middlesbrough on 17 February 1999. 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.

[edit] 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]

He scored his first Rangers goal against FK Zeta in a UEFA Champions League qualifier, on the 31 July 2007.[4]

[edit] International career

Weir earned his first cap for Scotland in a 1-0 defeat to Wales on 27 May 1997.[5] He scored his one and only goal for Scotland in FIFA World Cup qualifier against Latvia at Hampden Park on 6 October 2001.[6]

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.[7] He has captained Scotland four times.

Weir is also on the management committee of the Professional Footballers Association.

[edit] Honours

With Hearts

With Rangers

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Dunfermline 0-1 Rangers", BBC Sport, 2007-01-21. 
  2. ^ "Weir complete switch to Rangers", BBC Sport, 2007-01-16. 
  3. ^ "Weir signs one-year deal at Ibrox", BBC Sport, 20 April, 2007. 
  4. ^ "Rangers 2-0 FK Zeta", BBC Sport website, 31 July 2007. 
  5. ^ "Scotland v Wales", The SFA Website, 2007-11-14. 
  6. ^ "Scotland v Latvia", The SFA Website, 2008-05-26. 
  7. ^ "Lithuania v Scotland", The SFA Website, 2007-11-14. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Scotland squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup
1 Leighton • 2 McNamara • 3 Boyd • 4 Calderwood • 5 Hendry • 6 T. McKinlay • 7 Gallacher • 8 Burley • 9 Durie • 10 Jackson • 11 Collins • 12 Sullivan • 13 Donnelly • 14 Lambert • 15 Gemmill • 16 Weir • 17 B. McKinlay • 18 Elliott • 19 Whyte • 20 Booth • 21 Gould • 22 Dailly • Coach: Brown
 Flag of Scotland
v • d • e
Rangers F.C. – current squad

1 McGregor • 3 Weir • 4 Buffel • 5 Papac • 6 Ferguson • 7 Hemdani • 8 Thomson • 9 Boyd • 10 Novo • 11 Adam • 15 Gow • 16 G. Smith • 17 Burke • 18 Naismith • 19 Darcheville • 20 Beasley • 21 Broadfoot • 22 Webster • 23 Dailly • 24 Cuéllar • 25 Alexander • 26 S. Smith • 27 McCulloch • 28 Whittaker • 29 Cousin • Manager: W. Smith


Persondata
NAME Weir, David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Falkirk, Scotland
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH