Weir's journey to the Albion

Albion’s pathway development manager David Weir spoke about his journey into coaching and his role at the club following a successful career as a player, and what he learned from a foray into management with Sheffield United.

James Hilsum

2020-01-16T08:00:00Z

Albion loan manager David Weir.

Weir played until the age of 42 with Rangers, but admitted he never took his age into consideration as his career progressed.

He said: “Throughout my career, I always had managers that trusted me regardless of my age. One of the best examples was Walter Smith, who I worked with when I was at Everton and with the Scotland national team. I knew he liked me as a player, but also that he respected me as a person too.

“The great satisfaction for me was to be involved in the Champions League in the latter stages of my career, as qualification was the barometer of our success and we did it the majority of the times I was there. Also playing in the Europa League and getting to the UEFA Cup Final was great too.

“I never thought about my age though. There were lads there that were aged 19, 20 and 21 but I just felt part of a group that were trying to be successful. I tried to act like any other player.”

David Weir during his time at Sheffield United.

Following his retirement from playing, the Scot had a brief spell as a coach at former club Everton before taking the managerial hot-seat at Sheffield United, and Weir spoke about the lessons he learned during his spell at Bramall Lane.

“It was very tough, and at the time I was very inexperienced going to a very big club," he said. "I did my best, and we were a bit unfortunate in the sense that a few things went against us.

“The club were in a rush to get to where they wanted to be, as they were in League One at the time. It gave me a great learning experience about the realities of football and the pressures you’re under. I don’t regret it, and I’ve used that experience in the rest of my career.”

Mark Warburton and David Weir during their time together at Rangers.

Following his departure from the South Yorkshire club, he quickly struck up a good working relationship with Mark Warburton and the duo enjoyed successful spells together at Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Rangers.

“We were thrown together at Brentford and we ended up working together through a mutual friend,” explained Weir.

“We clicked very quickly, and when I was offered the job there I was very excited and enjoyed working there with Mark for a couple of years.

“We were very successful and managed to get promoted from League One and into the Championship play-offs with Brentford.

“It was a very enjoyable time early on in my coaching career. Mark taught me a lot both on and off the pitch. I was able to talk to him a lot and experience how he managed. That was great for me in terms of learning from his knowledge.”

Weir then became Albion's first ever pathway development manager and felt it was a natural progression after his previous coaching roles.

“At this time in my career, I wanted to be somewhere I could be stable and get my teeth into a role where I could be successful and get some reward for it. The role was perfect in terms of my skill set.

“I got a great feeling when I met the owner Tony Bloom, Paul Barber, Paul Winstanley and Simon Rusk. It was the same when Dan Ashworth and Graham Potter came in with their staff last year.

“It’s been a consistent theme from the moment I came in. There are some great people at Brighton and a good culture too.”

Aaron Connolly.

The 49-year-old gave an insight into his current role, and the ways in which he oversees the progress of the club’s loan players and making sure they go to the most suitable clubs.

He said: “It’s all about finding them the right level and the best coaches to support them.

“We’ve seen the benefits of what the loan process can do with what’s happened to the likes of Steven Alzate and Aaron Connolly who went out on loan, came back and broke into the first team.

“It’s encouraging for all the players that there’s a pathway there. It shows that you can go out on loan and come back and be a Premier League player.

“That ultimately is what we want to achieve for all our players that go out on loan.”