Albion's loans manager David Weir has looked back on eight seasons with Everton and a fascinating career which included a record-breaking appearance for Scotland.
Weir, who took on the role in 2019, was 18 when he went to America to take up a scholarship at a college in Indiana and spent the next four season with the Evansville Purple Acers.
“I was playing for Scotland Schoolboys at a tournament at the Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Skegness and was spotted in a game against one of the English counties and asked if I’d like to go over there on a scholarship," he told MyAlbion Audio.
“I hadn’t got a professional contract with a club in Scotland at that time and I was thinking of going to university. I hadn’t been to America, I hadn’t even been abroad or on a plane.
“After three or four weeks my appendix burst so you can imagine the conversation between the coach and my parents back in Scotland! But it was one of the best experiences of my life. I wouldn’t change it for anything because it made me realise there’s a big wide world out there.
“I made loads of friends who I’m still in touch with. One of them is Paul Nevin who works at Brighton as well. When I first came to the club and met Paul we were thinking ‘how could this be?’ Football is actually a small world.
“So I do have a degree of sympathy for our guys when they go on loan because it’s tough. At that age you’re relatively inexperienced in football and life and you need support. Back then there were no phones or social media, just one call home every Sunday.”
Weir returned to Scotland in 1992 aged 22 and was signed by his local club Falkirk. After four seasons there his old manager Jim Jefferies took him to Hearts and in 1999 he moved to Everton where he was a Premier League regular for eight seasons.
He returned to Scotland in 2007 and spent the last five years of his career with Rangers, the team he supported as a boy. He was later part of the management team at Ibrox with Mark Warburton.
Weir made over 600 career appearances and played in the 1998 World Cup for Scotland. He won 69 caps, captained his country four times and set a new record for Scotland’s oldest international when he played in 2010 aged 40 years, 116 days.
In the podcast, you can hear about David’s fascinating football story, including a ‘learning curve’ spell in management at Sheffield United, coaching with Brentford and Rangers and more on the role he plays with Albion.