I think dad has watched over me and been proud... but I still miss his advice
SAYS FRASER AIRD
FRASER AIRD was used to calls and feedback after career landmarks. His father watched his first start for Rangers from a supporters’ club in Toronto and was straight on the phone. The morning after his first goal for Canada, then, the midfielder knew what to expect.
Aird’s man-of-the-match display against Scotland in March prompted the usual flurry of texts and calls from friends, family and former colleagues. For a day or two, his phone rarely stopped.
The emotional comedown came later; when he sat down with partner Laura-Jane to watch highlights of the 1-1 draw at Easter Road and realised the call he always valued the most would not be coming.
‘My dad passed away on January 30,’ he tells Sportsmail, ‘just six weeks before the game at Easter Road.
‘He was Scottish and that game in Edinburgh was one he would love to have been at to watch me play.
‘Family means everything to me and it was an emotional high after the game. All my relatives, my partner’s family, my close friends, my cousins were at the game.
‘The morning after, the reaction made me feel like I’d scored in the Champions League final. It was incredible.
‘I had so many text messages from old teammates and friends saying “congratulations” — and, obviously, the game was on Sky, so everyone saw it.
‘I don’t think it all sunk in at first. I was buzzing.
‘It was only a day or two after, when I watched the game back with my missus, that it felt emotional.
‘I started thinking of dad and how he would have felt, reliving so many memories.
‘But, you know, I think he was watching over me that night a happy and proud man.’
Bill Aird succumbed, peacefully as it was, to cancer at the age of 65. A Glaswegian who emigrated to Toronto, he was a Rangers fanatic. Yet his son’s career always over-rode patriotic instinct. A Scotland youth international, Fraser made the decision to switch to Canada — the country of his birth — with his father’s blessing. When it came to the big football decisions, Bill was always there with a word of advice.
‘Dad played when me and my brother Cameron were growing up,’ recalls the Falkirk midfielder. ‘It was the first thing we wanted to do — kick a ball.
‘I got the chance to come over and sign for Rangers when I was 16 and I couldn’t say no because we were massive Rangers fans — no one more so than dad.
‘He was probably happier than I was when I signed for Rangers. And I was pretty pleased myself.
‘Living over in Canada, he probably didn’t get to see me as often as he might have. But he watched my Rangers debut with my brother in Toronto and he was hugely proud.’
The Airds will raise a toast to Bill next month, when they make the annual family pilgrimage to the convention of the North American Rangers Supporters Association (NARSA) in Las Vegas for the eighth consecutive year.
If leaving his boyhood idols last summer was an emotional wrench, he saw no other choice. Pushed out of position by Mark Warburton, his first-team career had hit a roadblock.
‘I don’t think I got enough of a chance to go out and prove myself and I had to do that,’ says Aird. ‘There was no point sitting about waiting.
‘Mark Warburton had me playing right-back. I wasn’t going to say no because if you get the chance to play, you play. But for me to do well, I have to play the position I am best at.
‘The gaffer brought in his own players and got rid of 10 or 11.
‘It’s a matter of opinion whether the guys he brought in were any better, but all managers do it.
‘I thought, with my involvement with the national team, I had to get out and play games.
‘I’ll always be a Rangers fan. That won’t change, but that didn’t matter. I had to play games.’
A year on loan at Vancouver Whitecaps was followed by an offer to join Falkirk until the end of this season. Promotion to the
Premiership after this week’s play-off semi-final against Dundee United could still persuade Aird to commit to the Bairns for longer. With Wigan and Fleetwood amongst the interested clubs, however, he will bide his time.
‘The next week and the play-offs could be a massive factor in my decision; whether Falkirk want to keep me or it’s time to move on,’ admits Aird.
‘I’d like to play at the highest level. I’d like to challenge myself as much as I can. But all my focus is on helping Falkirk to promotion right now.
‘We have been unlucky the last few years with the teams coming down — Rangers, Dundee United, and Hibs.
‘But it’s in our hands now, with home advantage in the second leg. We have to win four games to get to the Premiership.’
After NARSA in Las Vegas, Aird hopes to make a swift return to the USA to play for Canada in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
‘It’s a big summer for me. The play-offs, a chance to get up, my contract situation and Canada have a friendly at the start of June before the Gold Cup,’ he says.
‘The group is French Guyana, Costa Rica, Honduras and Canada. The first game is in New York, the second Houston, the third game in Dallas.
‘I’m looking forward to that and I’d miss a good bit of pre-season if I get called up, so I’d love to get my future tied up before I leave.
‘But it’s about the play-offs first and I hope they help to put me on the map.’
With some big decisions looming this summer, there was one man Aird would always turn to in the past.
‘I still consider things now and ask myself: “What would dad think?”,’ he reveals.
‘He always let me make my own decisions, because it was my life.
‘He couldn’t play the game for me. He could only advise me what he thought was best for me.
‘But now I’m close to my partner’s dad Dennis McLeod. He is the father figure in my life now and I can always go to him for advice.
‘In the next few weeks or month or so, we will sit down and think about what the future holds.’