David Weir glad to put Blades spell behind him

Davie Weir endured a torrid time in charge at Bramall Lane.

In his foreword for Extra Time, the autobiography of Davie Weir, Walter Smith, signs off with a prediction.

“With the wee bit of luck everyone needs, Davie could be a terrific manager,” he said of the man he had no qualms about making Rangers’ oldest outfield player since World War II.

Smith couldn’t know it at the time, but the careful addition of a caveat was to prove justified.

Handed his first job by Sheffield United in the summer of 2013 after learning the ropes as a coach with Everton, Weir couldn’t buy a break at Bramall Lane.

Four months, 10 League games, one solitary win and a clutch of ‘what ifs’ later, he was gone.

After a playing career famed for longevity, his time as a manager was remarkable for being so short.

That was then, this is now.

Today when the Blades, rejuvenated under the charge of Nigel Clough, tackle Hull City in the second of the FA Cup semi-finals they will carry with them the genuine good wishes of an ex-boss who is himself enjoying a new lease of life.

Appointed assistant manager to Mark Warburton at Brentford, Weir is at the centre of a promotion charge out of League One, the division where United play their football and are currently sitting in mid table.

“I was disappointed with the way things ended in Sheffield but already it seems a long time ago,” said the 43-year-old, who has also watched Everton give themselves a real chance of claiming a Champions League place.

“I have been away for six months, half as long again as I was actually at United.

“At the time it was all-encompassing. There were aspects about the job that I loved the organising and the chance to do things the right way and build for the future, short and long term.

“In order to achieve your goals you need to get positive results.

“And while we played well, did some nice things on the park, we never got the one victory that could have really galvanised us and helped us build momentum.

“There were matches when it felt like we just needed the bounce of the ball to go our way and it didn’t happen.

“That was very frustrating and in the end there just wasn’t the time to get things turned around. It ended and afterwards I just felt like I needed to decompress.

“I went away for a proper holiday and just really thought through what had happened. I wasn’t bitter then and am definitely not now.

“One of the main things I decided was that I was going to be really careful about the next job I took and to not just jump in anywhere.

“I wasn’t desperate or really looking for anything. I am not saying that I wouldn’t have got to that stage, just that I wasn’t there yet.”

Then, in December, came the chance of a quick turnaround.

“I got the chance to go to Brentford and work with Mark,” said Weir.

“I had dealt with him at Everton about young players in our Next Gen team who could be loaned out and we had got on well.

“I knew Brentford from being in the same league as Sheffield United and they struck me as a really good club with good players and decent potential so I went for it.

“Since then it has been really busy. You don’t have a lot of the downsides to deal with when you are an assistant rather than a manager but there is still a huge amount to get on with.

“We are having a great season and with a few games to go are in with a real chance of going up.

“It is a huge prize with the Championship one of the biggest leagues in Europe in its own right and, as such, it takes up all of our time and energy.

“I suppose from a personal point of view it has been ideal because it has allowed me to put Sheffield right behind me. And, of course, things have worked out well for them too.

“Nigel Clough has come into the club and done a terrific job as boss. Their FA Cup run has captured the country’s imagination and it is not over yet.

“They have already beaten Aston Villa and Fulham so who is to say they can’t get past Hull and go onto the Final itself?”

While his Brentford duties eat up most of his time, Weir keeps up with the Scottish game and admits his heart went out to Ally McCoist when Rangers crashed to Raith Rovers in the Ramsdens Cup showpiece last week.

“Having now done the job myself, I think I would have sympathy for any manager in that situation,” he said.

“But I know Ally, so I know how much it would have hurt him and that made it worse.

“He will have been desperate to deliver the Cup for the fans who have stuck with the club over the last couple of years.

“It didn’t happen and he and the players came in for a lot of flak as a consequence.

“That is not nice but it is part of the deal when you are at a club like Rangers. You accept that.

“It is done now and now is the time they have to show character through how they respond.”

Indeed. As Weir’s own example shows, it is not whether you get knocked down but whether you get back up again that counts.