Weir eyes new

Former defender keen to return after recovering from traumatic car crash

With Frazer Wright beside him, Steven Anderson earned his place in St Johnstone folklore and the Scottish football history books as the rock upon which a cup was won.

With Michael Duberry beside him, a decent Premiership defender became one of the best.

And it was with Jim Weir beside him, Anderson started the journey that would end 16 years and a club record number of appearances later.

“I played with Ando in his trial game against Forfar,” said Weir, who was John Connolly’s assistant manager back in 2004, and occasional reserve team centre-half.

“In all my time playing, coaching and managing he’s the one player I looked at and saw myself in.

“He wanted to win. He wanted to train hard. He was a moaner. It affected him when he lost goals.

“It was an emotional moment for me when Saints won the cup final, more so because it was Ando who scored the goal.

“One of the first things he said to me was he was just glad he got the cleansheet. That’s what he was like as a boy.

“We had the likes of Kevin James, Allan McManus and Mark Campbell who played in central defence around that time but I remember saying to Stewart Duff and Owen Coyle: ‘Ando will turn out to be the best defender, he’ll see them all off’. Thankfully I was right.

“It was because of his brilliant attitude. That’s what brought him success. We all love flair players but I know the St Johnstone fans and they’ve always taken to the boys who get stuck in and give it everything. Ando’s certainly one of those.”

That eye for a player, and the work he would put in on the training ground with the likes of Anderson, deserves to be circled on a CV that Weir is ready to put into the football job market again now that he is fully recovered from a traumatic head-on car crash that forced him to bow to the inevitable and leave Forfar for a physical and mental timeout.

“The longest I’ve been out of the game was the two years after I left Brechin in 2012,” Weir recalled.

“I had a good job outside of football but the longer it went on, the more I missed it. When Elgin came up I thought: ‘If I don’t go back in now, I’ll never go back in’.

“This time, after leaving Forfar at the end of October, I felt I needed anywhere between three to six months to properly recover from the accident. I still had a mental fear of driving at night. It’s hard to explain until it’s happened to you.

“I was struggling physically as well with back problems. For about 10 weeks I was seeing my old St Johnstone physio Nick Summersgill twice a week after the accident. I’m still seeing him.

“I think Nick must have treated every part of my body – Achilles, knees, ankles, groins, hamstrings, nose breaks, you name it.

“If there was football being played just now I’d be champing at the bit because I’m fully recovered and ready to get back in. I’m already thinking about taking on another challenge.”

Weir is keeping an open mind about what type of challenge that will be, with returning to full-time football starting to appeal to him for the first time since he gave up a place in Owen Coyle’s backroom team at McDiarmid Park to forge his own path in management.

“I chose to be a part-time manager because of a job outside of football and I can say hand on heart that I’ve never applied for a post while I’ve been in one,” said the Saints hall-of-famer.

“I hear what other people in football say to me – people who I’ve known for a long time – and I’m starting to listen to them. Maybe I should go back into fulltime football if an opportunity comes up.

“Paul Sturrock is one of them. I’ve always kept in touch with him and gone to him for advice. He’s without doubt the best coach I’ve worked with.

“I feel as equipped as anybody to be involved full-time again. Some might see me as an older manager now that I’ve turned 50 but I don’t feel any different. I still have the same discipline, work ethic

“If there was football being played just now I’d be champing at the bit because I’m fully recovered and ready to get back in. JIM WEIR