Weir urges Danny Wilson to learn his trade with Rangers

IT IS widely recognised that David Weir has played a heavily influential role on Danny Wilson during this, a key season in the teenage Rangers defender's development.

The 39-year-old has adopted something of an on-field mentor role to Wilson, pictured, who has impressed after breaking into Walter Smith's first-team. Weir's value to his 18-year-old protg may stretch further than that in the coming weeks.

News that Liverpool have at least a slight desire to coax Wilson to Merseyside not only hands Rangers a dilemma – namely whether or not to sell the centre-half this summer, when with a year left on his contract he retains some transfer value – but the player one as well.

For even if Weir defies logic once again to commit to another season at Ibrox, the likelihood is he would play only sporadically in the next campaign. That factor, added to the regular possibility that Madjid Bougherra will fancy a move to a more testing environment, means Wilson would almost certainly have his experience levels increased by further top-team exposure.

With the youngster unsure whether or not to sign the contract on offer to him from Rangers or make the great leap south, Weir will be a useful sounding board. The latter man made a move to Merseyside once upon a time, but to Everton and after starting late in the professional game at Falkirk before moving to Hearts.

"I think this is a great place for Danny to play and learn his trade and that has to be the main thing for him at this stage," Weir explained yesterday.

"He has got to be playing, because that's where you learn. People can tell you things and point things out to you. But you learn a lot of the time by your mistakes and by actually being in the firing line. The more of that he gets the better. The biggest thing is just to be playing regularly.

"If he asked my advice then of course I would help him. But I've not got all the answers either.

"You can try and help him, but the main thing for Danny is to keep doing what he is doing. Keep playing and things will happen, they will take their own course. If he worries too much about that or tries to plan it too much then that's when he will start to run into problems. He has not done that so far."

Weir has too much knowledge of the quality of English football not to dismiss any notion of being a part of that in the immediate future from Wilson's head altogether.

"If you feel you are good enough, then fine," Weir said. "I'm sure Danny feels he could go and play anywhere. I would like to think that's his mentality because that's how it should be.

"He is good enough to do that and I don't think you can go into something like this with negative thoughts. That's important for him, if anything does happen that he goes with that attitude. But hopefully he will be at Rangers for a while yet.

"What Danny has done this season has been incredible for a player that age. He has played in pressure games with all the speculation surrounding him. He has handled that fantastically well and I don't think he gets enough credit for the way he has done that."

It was the form of Weir himself which was in the spotlight yesterday, the veteran confirmed as one of four names up for nomination as the Cheque Centre SPFA Player of the Year. Kris Boyd, Steve Davis and Andy Webster are the other nominees with Weir adamant the SPL title matters more to him than individual recognition.

"I was up for this award maybe a hundred years ago when I was at Hearts," he joked.

"Being honest, though it's nice to be nominated, winning the league is all that matters. That's the truth, I'm not trying to be flippant. I would love to win it, of course I would.

"But if I'm being honest, the league is the one that matters most to me."

With Rangers still on the brink of that championship glory after Wednesday's scoreless draw with Dundee United, Weir echoed the earlier sentiments of his manager.

Smith has claimed this Rangers team has not received due credit for its efforts, particularly against a back-drop of off-field uncertainty, with so much attention focused on the shortcomings of other SPL teams.

"If we go on and win the league then hopefully we will be thought of as a good Rangers team, though not a lot of people would say that at the minute," Weir conceded.

"It's the nature of football that everyone is always telling you it's the worst Rangers team in this or that many years and that drives the boys on. It drives us on to know that we won the league last season and have a chance of winning it in this one. Rangers had gone years in the past without winning the league or winning trophies. So it gives us unity and a wee bit of feeling about that.

"Of course it annoys you when you hear it (negativity]. But the only answer is to go and win games and trophies. That's how you are ultimately judged."