Dailly and Weir happy to continue Ibrox careers

Published on Thursday 3 July 2008 23:11

VETERAN defenders Christian Dailly and David Weir have both signed new deals with Rangers.

The Scottish pair have each committed to staying at Ibrox for another year, after impressing last season.

Dailly, 34, quickly adapted to life at Rangers after joining on a short-term deal from West Ham United in January, while Weir, 38, was brought to Glasgow by manager Walter Smith shortly after his own return to the club 18 months ago.

Weir insists he was always going to extend his stay after discovering that a new offer was on the table. He explained: “I’m delighted. I’ve enjoyed every minute since I’ve been up here.

“Football-wise there wasn’t any decision to make. As soon as the manager said he wanted me to stay for another year, I was delighted.

“I didn’t think I’d be here for two-and-a-half years. In football you can’t afford to look that far ahead, especially at my age. So initially it was just a short-term deal, but I’m delighted now that it has stretched and stretched.”

Weir’s partnership with Carlos Cuellar in the heart of the defence was crucial to Rangers’ success last season, as they won the Scottish Cup and CIS Insurance Cup and narrowly missed out on the Uefa Cup and Clydesdale Bank Premier League trophies.

The former Everton man played a total of 68 games for both club and country in what proved to be an epic campaign for the veteran centre-half. Weir is now hoping to have a significant part to play when Rangers’ new season gets under way with a Champions League qualifier against FC Santa Coloma or FBK Kaunas later this month.

He told www.rangers.co.uk: “You want to play every game. As a player you want to be in the team week-in, week-out. I obviously want to be involved and that will be my aim. But it’s up to me to try to do that.”

Weir and Dailly were among a number of big-name players returning to Rangers to prepare for their Champions League qualifiers and the new SPL campaign. Ibrox captain Barry Ferguson was also at Murray Park after being given extra time off following last season’s exertions.