Weir can help bring stability back to Ibrox like last time
THE NEW Ibrox manager is definitely a maverick choice — an outsider in every sense of the word. His right-hand man, though? He comes with Rangers bona fides running through him from head to toe. He knows how it feels to arrive at Ibrox in the middle of a crisis. Knows exactly what it is like to be charged with cleaning up a mess of someone else’s making.
David Weir the defender was meant to be a temporary solution when Walter Smith signed him from Everton in January 2007. A veteran who would come in and do a job for six months, probably the closing spell to his playing career, and maybe teach some of the younger ones a thing or two about positioning and the like.
Certainly nobody expected the then 37-year- old — oh, what an age — to make himself anything more than an alternative to the acquisition of proper long-term defensive cover. That way lay madness.
As everyone now knows, of course, Weir spent five years at Ibrox, winning eight major honours during his time as a Rangers player — and receiving a number of i ndividual accolades along the way.
He had arrived as a Smith emergency signing at, well, a time of genuine emergency.
The former Scotland boss had just stepped into the chaos left by the ill-fated Paul l e Guen era and needed someone who would instil discipline and determination in a team that had grown soft and vulnerable.
It was a j ob that Weir tackled with artistry and drive to earn himself an extended stay, not to mention a place among the best signings that Smith would ever make.
He became the backstop of a defence that saw off so many threats as Rangers reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2008 — and would become the club’s oldest outfield player since World War Two.
Usually composed, almost always in the right place, he was the guy who should have been exposed for lack of pace. The obvious target for any opposition team with a quick f orward or two. It rarely worked out like that.
Smith wrote the foreword to Weir’s autobiography, suitably titled Extra Time, and the veteran manager signed off with the prediction that ‘with the wee bit of luck everyone needs, Davie could be a terrific manager’.
Well, maybe he did not get t he l uck he needed at Sheffield United. Having worked within the coaching system at Everton, he got his chance with the Blades in the summer of 2013 — but lasted just four months.
His record of one win from 10 games was poor enough to do for even an experienced boss with a dozen managerial triumphs on his CV.
Bouncing back from that to join Brentford as assistant manager, Weir has very much become Warburton’s trusted lieutenant, a fellow devotee of the philosophy that took the Bees to the English Championship play- offs last year.
More than that, though, the 45-year- old former Scotland i nternational bri ngs to Rangers an understanding of the pressures which are created by a relentless support unwilling to accept excuses.
Injury crisis? Just get on with it, pal, and give us a win. Off-field distractions? Forget about them and give us a win. Not had enough time to build a squad? You know what is coming next…
Someone who knows the club, who gets how much it means to the supporters, is going to be vital.
Never underestimate the di s ori e ntation which is suffered by a new manager being dropped into the Old Firm environment. Almost all newcomers have spoken about the time it takes to adjust.
Celtic’s Ronny Deila made the very same admission not so long ago. Warburton will no doubt discover the same.
Not that Weir will not have a few adjustments to make himself. Without getting into t he whole philosophical debate, Rangers are not quite the same club he graced.
So much has changed, so many indignities have been heaped upon them, that they are unrecognisable even from the ‘ team in disarray’ which was left behind by le Guen. Those who know how Brentford work say that Weir is not being brought along to give the Warburton appointment a Light Blue gloss. He is here because of what he does on the training ground and in the dressing room.
Given the circumstances, not to mention a few serious doubts over Warburton’s suitability for such a job, Weir’s wisdom and his ability to turn a team around — not three months from now, but right away — is likely to be needed every bit as much as his Rangers credentials.