Legends
Series - Mickey Weir
He's here, he's there, he's
every - you know the rest! -
JOHN CAMPBELL
IF YOU STUDY THE HISTORY of
Hibernian Football Club you will find that it was once Managed by Bertie
Auld, the former Lisbon Lion having arrived at Easter Road from Partick
Thistle where he had earned the reputation of fielding negative teams,
content with not losing games. Whether that assessment is fair or not is
open to debate but if it is factual then it is all the more surprising
that Auld was the man who initially gave Mickey Weir the opportunity to
pursue a career in football at Easter Road.
A local lad, from Clermiston, Mickey was
playing with Portobello Thistle in the early eighties and suffering all
the comments associated with those of his physical stature in the game.
"Yer too wee son" was an expression which threatened to put him
out of football before he was really in it but then along came Pat
Stanton, who replaced Auld at Easter Road and Mickey was joined on the
ground staff by Paul Kane and Gordon Hunter. Training was fun and so was
being on the groundstaff, as both Weir and Hunter were Hibs fans and so
just loved being around the place.
Soon they were joined by Eddie May,
Kevin McKee and John Collins and spent their days training before sweeping
the old terracings whilst singing Hibs songs to keep them amused! These
were happy times for Mickey and his form was catching the eye as he turned
in some fine displays in the Youth team that earned him early promotion to
the reserves where, along with Collins and May he formed a quite
impressive, if young, midfield.
Mickey Weir, now a coach at Motherwell
Hibs were hardly setting the heather on
fire on the park and money was scarce when it came to trying to strengthen
the team, so it was no real surprise when youth was given its chance and
soon Mickey was teasing and tantalising defenders with his clever wing
play. An almost instant hit with the fans he joined a quite elite band of
players of whom songs have been specifically sung when the cry from the
terracing was "He's here, he's there <I'm not allowed to swear>
Mickey Weir, Mickey Weir! Of course those are not the actual words and I
admit to having borrowed the line about not swearing from the Chelsea fans
who actually sang those words about Frank Lebouef after he'd objected to
the swearing in the song!
Now under the Managership of Alex
Miller, Hibs displayed some up and down form but Mickey stayed pretty
constant and after having a bit of a fall out with the Club he left in
1987 to sign for Luton Town. His stay in the South was short lived however
as he missed Hibs so much and he was soon back wearing the green and white
of the team he supported.
As the Club moved into the nineties and
went through its horrendous experience of the take-over bid by Wallace
Mercer, Mickey's form stayed good throughout and at least gave the fans
something positive to focus on amongst all the gloom. His crowning moments
as a Hibee were no doubt the 1991 Skol Cup Semi Final and Final where he
ran the show on both occasions as Hibs beat Rangers 1 - 0 and then
Dunfermline 2 - 0 to lift the trophy.
Images of Mickey on the upper deck of
the open top bus as it returned the triumphant Hibs side to Leith are very
fresh in the memory and mean that the diminutive winger earns a place
alongside so very few other Hibernian players in being the proud owner of
a Cup Winner's medal. He was often Man of the Match on the park and whilst
he might be small in stature he has a big heart - a heart that belongs to
Hibernian.
Mickey left Hibs to join Motherwell
where he's been given the chance to move into coaching. Welcome back to
Easter Road wee man - you're a legend. |
