David Weir Says Goodbye

Fare ye weel, Davie Weir.

The Scottish Football Blog has often been facetious about the Methuselah of Scottish football.

Unfair that. Davie Weir was playing at the highest level in Scotland in his 40s and I'm often too lazy to play dominoes in my 30s.

Perhaps unsurprisingly Weir and Rangers will part company this week. He's set to move on. Not to a retirement home but, indefatigable warrior that he is, to a new club in England.

It's proved to be an unexpectedly elongated addendum to his career, the sojourn in Glasgow.

The end has been predicted before. There was a stage in one of the 2008 Uefa Cup games against Sporting Lisbon when I thought Weir would finish the match like Monty Python's Black Knight, relentlessly positive even as his body fell apart in front of us.

But on and on he went. In Jeremy Kyle years he was old enough to be a grandfather to some of his colleagues. He never seemed to let that phase him.

I've always had the impression of him as a good guy. That's probably because of too much exposure to Falkirk fans who used to vouch for his decency back in the 90s. He's done nothing much to dispel that impression though.

To continue playing for so long he's obviously taken a common sense approach to looking after himself. That shouldn't surprise us. He's always seemed a sensible sort. Even his career trajectory - an education (albeit at an American university) then launching his professional career at Falkirk.

From Brockville to Hearts and then on to English riches. It points to feet-on-the-ground progression rather than a head-in-the-clouds explosion followed by an inevitable implosion.

Now it looks like an old-school career. One that money, agents and football's general hysteria makes less likely a generation (or two) on.

It's worked. A Scottish Cup with Hearts. A role in Everton's unlikely progression to a top four finish. Then trophies galore with Rangers.

And he's shown a quaintly old fashioned readyiness to answer his country's call despite the ups, downs and even deeper downs of Scotland's fortunes.

A link too to Scottish football's sunset moment. By my reckoning Weir and Christian Dailly are the last of the outfield players who made up Scotland's 1998 World Cup squad to still be playing.

We'll not again have a Scotland player who lived through the miraculous World Cup qualifying period that stretched for 28 years from 1970.

A last bridge to those bitter sweet but happier times.

Weir has carried on through managers, bad results, famous wins. And he's carried on while younger men have fallen by the wayside. From a debut in 1997 through 69 caps and a final appearance against Spain at Hampden 13 years later.

There have been times at Ibrox when the passing years have made him susceptible to pace. But pace was never his main attribute.

There's been carping aplenty about what opposing fans saw as a mature - if not sporting - ability to influence referees. But opposing fans always have such moans.

Whatever was said Weir soldiered on. Often he looked older than his years, adding to the abundant jokes about his age.

But he always looked happy enough when picking up trophies. And he's done that with metronomic regularity in his years at Ibrox.

Latterly it's been the vogue to project on to Walter Smith the idea of a manger with infinite wisdom. Even then you'd be hard pushed to imagine that Smith knew exactly what he was signing.

Of course he knew about the quality, the benefits of the experience. But you don't sign a player approaching his 37th birthday and expect to get five years service, over 200 appearances and eight trophies.

Or both major player of the year awards in the player's 40th year.

But that's what Weir delivered. A five year career at Rangers after making his debut at 36. A 13 year career with Scotland after making his debut at 27. It's a good advert for starting late.

Slow but steady wins the race. As Weir's old school friend Aesop might have said.

It's been a successful five years at Ibrox. But it's also been a fairly tumultuous time. Weir provided a steadying focal point on the pitch.

I'm not a Rangers fan. But it's been a fascinating five years to watch.

Weir arrived an elder statesman. He leaves a highly decorated, grand old man.

Proof that an SPL twilight can enhance a career.

And, as policemen appear to be getting younger and football stars appear almost embryonic, here was a craggy faced old codger to give us all hope.

Scotland: Levein Looks To The Future

Like a scientist scarred by an exploding test tube Craig Levein has abandoned the experiment that ended in tears in Sweden and gone back to the tried and tested for the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Lithuania and Liechtenstein.

That means David Weir returns to the squad at the age of 40 and is joined by 33 year old Paul Hartley.

Levein spoke glowingly of Weir's ability to turn in top class performances week after week. But the reality is there's not much else there. Garry Kenneth was given a chance in Sweden and failed.

The Realpolitik of the manager's situation is that a bad start in Lithuania will knock the stuffing out of the qualifying campaign. It's not a place to take risks so it may become a country for old men.

Elsewhere Blackpool goalkeeper Matt Gilks makes his first squad courtesy of his Scottish grandmother. That is international football these days. Still, a first call up is fine reward for conceding six goals last weekend.

The full squad:

Goalkeepers: Marshall (Cardiff), McGregor (Rangers), Gilks (Blackpool)

Defenders: Hutton (Tottenham), Berra (Wolves), Broadfoot (Rangers), McManus (Middlesbrough), Weir (Rangers) McCulloch (Rangers), Wallace (Hearts), Webster (Rangers), Whittaker (Rangers), McNaughton (Cardiff)

Midfielders: Adam (Blackpool), Brown (Celtic), Dorrans (West Brom), Fletcher (Man Utd), Morrison (West Brom), Robson (Middlesbrough), Hartley (Aberdeen)

Strikers: Boyd (Middlesbrough),Fletcher (Wolves), Iwelumo (Burnley), McFadden (Birmingham), Miller (Rangers) Naismith (Rangers)

Prize guys

Back slapping all round as the Clydesdale Bank announced the winners of their Premier League awards for the season:

Manager of the Year: Walter Smith

Player of the Year: Methuselah...not really. David Weir

Young Player of the Year: David Goodwillie

Goal of the Season: Anthony Stokes v Rangers

Save of the Season: Artur Boruc v Hibs

There is a name in there that still makes me snigger every time I hear it. There's just something inherently, if immaturely, funny about the name Walter...

Boruc isn't the only winning Celt this week with Robbie Keane picking up an award as Celtic's Player of the Season, as voted for by the supporters.

Keane's scored a lot of goals since his arrival, although I feel his overall impact has been muted, but it says much about the season that his 13 or so games have been enough to take the award.

In other news the SPL has signed a new sponsorship deal with Clydesdale that takes them through to 2013.

Nice to know that the league will still have a sponsor even if half its teams go bust.

Boring, boring Rangers or there's more than one way to cook an egg

Anti football has travelled all the way to the UEFA Cup Final. Or Walter Smith stroked his cutaway collar and cooked up a plan that would conquer the continent.

Great periods of Rangers' campaign (not just in Europe) have been undeniably dull. A solid defence. A solid defensive midfield. A solid defending striker. Simple game, football.

Goals might win games. But clean sheets don't lose games. Rangers have tended shop at the back (sometimes with luck but always with commitment) and reaped the benefits.

Is it football? Well, clearly, yes. They've not got to the UEFA Cup Final playing water polo after all. And being defensive is not against the rules. You might argue about the spirit of the game but it's all meaningless. Rangers have done a job with the players at their disposal. And many of those players were bought to do that very job.

At times it has been dull. The home leg against Sporting when David Weir actually managed to look at least twice his age was the nadir. But the fans who booed them that night (or so I'm told, I'd actually nipped round the corner to watch the cribbage final in my local. I'd guessed, correctly, that crib would be more fun) missed the point. Wattie, like head matron, was all about clean sheets.

I would say he who laughs last laughs loudest. But I've got a feeling that little Dick Advocaat might get the last snigger. Still Smith has done amazingly well. The plan would have looked stupid if a team had started scoring against them (not least because Plan B would seem to be a work in progress) but that didn't happen. Storm's were weathered, hatches battened and barriers manned. Somehow they have survived.

Don't confuse defensive for dull. There have been exciting moments: the goals in Lisbon, Alan MacGreggor taking on Werder Bremen single handed, wondering whether Davie Weir's heart would survive against Lisbon. Tense can be exciting, last ditch can be fun.

The thing about sport is it offers different ways to win. The English rugby team, Nick Faldo taking 18 straight pars at Muirfield. It might not please everyone but the sole object at the end of the contest is victory. Time and again, based on the most important criteria, Rangers have delivered.