Weir to grab his chance

HEARTS star Graham Weir revealed today he has forfeited a summer holiday in a bid to win a regular place in the first team next season.

The 21-year-old striker has put pen to paper on a new one-year deal at Tynecastle but while the rest of his team-mates are sunning themselves on the beach he will be pounding the treadmill at the gym.

After two years of flitting in and out of the Jambos side the youngster knows that the approaching campaign is likely to be make or break for him.

Last year he found himself sidelined by mumps at the start of the season before Craig Levein’s departure and the arrival of John Robertson saw him fall out of favour. But, with a new manager on the horizon and the ink on his contract still drying off, Weir is determined to win an extended stay in Gorgie.

"This is probably the biggest season of my career coming up," he admitted. "It’s another year at a big club and I know that I have to prove I can cut it at this level.

"I’ve sacrificed going on holiday this summer to try and get a bit fitter and I hope that pays off. I’ve been doing running and going to the gym and hopefully it will benefit me. It’s a small price to pay if it means realising something I’ve always wanted to do.

"I’m pleased that people have shown enough faith in me to give me another year."

But Weir, who is guaranteed a place in Hearts folklore thanks to his injury time double against Hibs a couple of seasons ago, revealed there was a stage last season when he feared he may be heading for the exit door.

"It was in the last few weeks that I was offered another deal and there was always the worry that I may be let go.

"A couple of my close mates, Neil Janczyk and David McGeown, were freed and I thought I could find myself in the same position. However, it hasn’t turned out that way and it’s great to get another chance."

And Weir, who only netted once in an injury-plagued last season, believes he owes it to interim managers John McGlynn and Steven Pressley to show he can cut it in the SPL.

"I wasn’t playing under Robbo so I have to thank John McGlynn and Elvis as they played me towards the end of the season and it’s probably down to them that I got this deal," he said.

"I was doing well in the 21s and John and Elvis showed they believed in me by starting me and I’d like to thank them for that.

"That was at the end of a really difficult season because I got the mumps and I didn’t really get over it until the last three months of the season.

"My face started swelling up before the first Braga game in a training session and it didn’t go down. My face was massive!

"I ended up in hospital for four days and it was the first time I had been there and it wasn’t a nice experience.

"But all that is hopefully behind me now and I want to look forward. I suppose I do have a point to prove because I want to establish myself at Hearts as they are a big club.

"Last season didn’t go well for me personally or really for the team and I want to be part of trying to make up for that.

"We are looking forward to trying to get into Europe again because after a few years of being there and now not it will be a big miss. We start training again at the end of this month and with a new manager coming in it will be a fresh start for everyone.

"That’s probably exactly what I need. I know there are only myself and Dennis Wyness at the club in terms of strikers at the moment but that will almost certainly change when the new manager comes in.

"But I’m not afraid of competition. In fact it can make you train and try that little bit harder and it’s up to me to show I deserve a place ahead of whoever is brought in."

Taken from the Scotsman