He’s Here, He’s There …………….

A song emanating from the stands these days and aimed at Ivan Sproule goes “He’s here, he’s there, he’s …… well you know the rest! In fact older Hibees will tell you that song actually made its ‘debut’ in the 1980’s and was aimed at Hibs’ diminutive wide player Mickey Weir as he dashed down the right wing tormenting opposing defenders. Mickey was a hero to many and indeed DaveF the dot net poster offered up the following words which I think go a long way to explaining why the wee fella was so popular. “He was direct, skilful, fiery and had an attitude to the game which brought the crowd to life. I was gutted when he left for Luton, but soon happy he returned.”

Born in 1966 Mickey was soon running around with a football at his feet and enjoyed representing both his Primary and Secondary schools although it took encouraging words from his Dad to keep him playing because his ‘coaches’ kept telling him he was too small. Thankfully Dad won out and Mickey was soon plying his trade with Portobello Thistle where he was encouraged by Jimmy McManus who had close links with Hibs. Soon Mickey was drafted into the ground staff at Easter Road which made him and his whole Hibs supporting family as proud as punch! When he arrived at ER he found just a few other kids on the ground staff but they included Kevin McKee, Gordon Hunter and Paul Kane later joined by John Collins and Willie Miller all of whom would, like Mickey, go on to become first team players.

Hibs were being managed at that time by Pat Stanton who had Jimmy O’Rourke and George Stewart as coaches. All three were and remain diehard, lifetime Hibs fans and so it’s not really surprising that Mickey thought all his Christmases had come at once! Early on in his days at the club he was told by Jimmy O’Rourke “Remember who you are playing for. You’re playing for Hibs and don’t ever forget that.”

Unfortunately his first game in Hibs colours came in a reserve fixture against Aberdeen who won the match 7-0 and his first team debut wasn’t much better as Hibs lost to Dumbarton and Pat Stanton promptly resigned taking Jimmy and George with him. Mickey was devastated as he idolised Pat and had huge respect for the other two, especially Jimmy who was always giving out good advice and building up the youngster’s confidence.

The departure of these icons was tough to take but Mickey soldiered on. After all, playing football was his job and it just so happened he had the employers he’d have chosen over any other!



Always a tricky opponent Mickey suffered some pretty rough treatment from opponents but he never let that stop him going back for more. It seemed he always reserved his best performances for the big games and loved playing against the Old Form and the Old Enemy – Hearts. A cracker against Rangers at Ibrox when Ginsberg was in goal for the light blues springs quickly to mind as do his several against Hearts but strangely I don’t think he ever scored against Celtic.

Of course Mickey’s greatest strength in my opinion was in making goals for others and there are many I could highlight but I’m going to pick out one in particular. It was season 1991/92 at Hampden in the Skol League Cup Semi Final against Rangers. The Ibrox side were huge favourites with the Bookies but Hibs were immense that night and the best player on the park by a country mile was Mickey Weir. Hibs won 1-0, Keith Wright scored the goal but it was the vision and skill of Mickey in picking out the perfect delivery for Keith to header the ball home. Magnificent and etched into my memory ever since. He was at it again in the Final against Dunfermline when he was tripped for the penalty that allowed Tommy McIntyre to score from the spot and then played a slide rule pass for Keith Wright to score the second in a 2-0 win. Many may feel the pass in the Final was the one to remember but I’ll stick with the one against Rangers as it provided me with a fantastic birthday present!

Perhaps wanting to try his luck in the English game Mickey left to join Luton Town but I get the impression it wasn’t at all what he expected and thankfully he was soon back playing for the Hibees until leaving for Motherwell when Jim Duffy gave him a free transfer.

As DaveF said he had an attitude to the game that brought the crowd to life. He had a passion for Hibernian that shone through when he wore the colours and to this day you will find that he still follows the team he has supported man and boy.

Credit to www.iHibs.co.uk and Sunshine on Leith by Simon Pia as both were used for research when writing this article