David Weir: 'Football doesn't give you the luxury of looking too far ahead'

Published on Saturday 14 May 2011 17:20

DECIDING what's next for me is still on the back burner. I honestly don't know if I will play on but, given that Ally McCoist is going to be the manager, he will be the biggest factor in that. If he wants me to stay then I have a decision to make. If he doesn't want me then I don't have a decision to make.

At the moment everyone is just focused on winning the league title for the third season in a row this afternoon and, because of that, everything else is on hold. But, once the picture is a bit clearer regarding how well we do today, then I'm sure we will start talking about these issues. But it will initially depend on whether Ally wants me around next year or not and, whichever way it goes, I haven't got a complaint because I could understand both points of view.

Of course there is my age but, as it's not something I have a great deal of control over, I don't really think about my age. Other people do keep mentioning it but that's not a factor for me. The number of games I have played this season might sway my decision, though. That kind of thing does come into your thoughts because, at the end of the day, if you don't feel like you are contributing or playing a part then you have to walk away. I do feel like I have contributed but the hardest bit has still to come today. If we do win the league then that could paint a completely different picture than if we don't win the league because everyone wants to keep playing when they are successful. All these things all come into consideration. The fact I have played as many games as I have is something that will encourage me to keep playing but being successful or not being successful is obviously a big part of it as well.

Wondering whether I thought it was possible to play even more games than last year, when people talk about me playing every league game, it's always possible. Almost everything is. People always put limitations on you and try to restrict you but that's the personal battle to try to prove people wrong and try to do the best you can. So that helps and motivates you and keeps you on track, you can use that to spur you on. But I don't set targets, don't eye up records and I didn't set out to try to beat last season. I just do the best I can and see where that takes me. Somebody told me that today will be my 57th game this season and some team-mates have said that, if I can play that many games, then it would be silly to quit and it's nice to hear that people want you to stay but there are other factors involved as well.

But for now, no one at the club is talking about it. That's the way I wanted it as I'm not interested in anything other than focusing on playing and, hopefully, winning this title. That's the only thing that matters just now.

Everything else we can deal with next week but we can't try to win the league next week, it will be gone by then so we need to focus on the job in hand first and foremost.

That's the good thing, I don't really think that far ahead to be honest. I just look to the next game, and that might sound a cliche but it's the genuine truth. I look at whatever is the next game coming up and try to get ready for that instead of worrying about next year or next month or next season. Football doesn't give you the luxury of doing that, of looking that far ahead, you've just got to concentrate on short-term things and try to do that as well as you can and then think about the next game as soon as that one is finished.

We have had to do that a lot this season as the games came at us thick and fast but, sometimes, that's the best way because you just have to get on with it. And we have all done that, which is why I get embarrassed when people talk about me playing all those games. It's nice to hear or read about people saying nice things about you, I can't deny that, but I'm just trying to do the best I can as I'm sure everybody else does.

Time will tell whether we have the mental capacity to forget everything that has been said about this being Walter Smith's last game in charge, about whether it will be my last game, forget about titles and about everything else that has been talked about, and just go and do our job. When you walk on the pitch you are just trying to win a game and, for that 90 minutes, everything else is irrelevant. You approach each game with the same attitude. You can't try to win a game more than you should already be doing every other week, or, if you can, then there is something wrong in the way you approach the vast majority of games. Today we will go out and play to the best of our ability and, hopefully, that will be enough and, if we do win, it then we can start thinking about the significance of it.

It has been a strange season and at times the actual football seems to have taken a back seat but a lot of the things that have dominated the media coverage are just background noise to me. Of course, there have been some serious issues but as a player all you can worry about is playing the games. Some of the headlines are about stupid things and you can't control them or get involved in them and a lot of things that haven't been right have happened, like all the stuff with the referees and then the letter bombs and stuff like that. That shouldn't be happening but I can't control them. Up here I think it goes with the territory and, while we would like football to be the priority, we are wise enough now to know that's not always the way it operates. But footballers don't have all the answers to things like that. The only thing we have a real chance to influence is the outcome of one game at a time.We can't influence what goes on around us or the things people say but we can use those things to motivate us at the right time.

But today we just need to relax, not tense up, and just approach it like any other game. Then, hopefully, that will be enough for the win and everything else that means.