I made my Man United Premier League debut with Marcus Rashford – but now I’ve already retired

Marcus Rashford was not the only academy graduate to make his Premier League debut on that day, as he made his debut for Manchester United against Arsenal in February 2016.

Marcus Rashford celebrates scoring for Manchester United (Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire)

It’s a well-known story that Marcus Rashford made his Premier League debut three days after making his first senior appearance for the team. The tale of another academy alumnus who also made his debut on that day is less well-known, though.

James Weir was struggling with his own jitters as Louis van Gaal offered a young Rashford, who had just played in a Europa League match against FC Midtjylland 72 hours before, another shot. Rashford had scored two goals to put Manchester United ahead of Arsenal 3-2, giving the team four goals in less than 150 senior minutes, when Van Gaal turned to his bench.

Van Gaal selected midfielder Weir even though he had alternative options. Weir made his first and only appearance for the first team after Ander Herrera, who had scored and was on a yellow card, was substituted.

He only stayed with the Red Devils for six months before leaving for Hull, where he suffered from injuries and didn’t get much playing time.

He led the Under-21 team to a league triumph at Carrington, but he was never given another opportunity to play in the top division and missed Hull’s entire season before to their relegation. After playing for Wigan, Bolton, and abroad with MTK Budapest, FC ViOn, and Pohronie, he retired at the age of just 28.

Weir can still remember his senior action season at United. As he told the Guardian, “I was on the bench for about 10 games,”

“It seems like a lifetime ago; it was a bit of a whirlwind.

They were the highlights of my career, but my debut was an out-of-body experience. It was amazing to be a part of the squad and be exposed to a club of that magnitude. There is nothing I would change about that minute.

He went into further detail about his brief presence in a prior interview with Planet Football. “Usually, you start warming up after 25 minutes or go for a little run to get the manager’s attention, but it was different with Van Gaal,” he said.

“He probably would have sent you on if you hadn’t waited until he instructed you to warm up. He instructed me to warm up after approximately 75 or 80 minutes, and then I heard a shout from someone on the touchline telling me to return to the technical area. “Bloody hell, I’m going to come on here,” was my thought.

“My parents were there, but the whole thing was so quick – the adrenaline saw me through and I can’t remember much about it, apart from standing with Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Paddy McNair at the final whistle, trying to take it all in.”

“I can tell my children and grandchildren that I played for Manchester United in the Premier League – although I may not mention the one-minute bit!” the player said, reflecting on his brief but memorable appearance in the Premier League for Manchester United. In an interview with the Manchester Evening News, he went on to describe the intensity of the moment: “At the time you’re thinking ‘don’t mess up’, it was 3-2, I was just thinking ‘run around and do what you can’ and then it was over.

“When I took Herrera’s place, he approached me and yelled, ‘Fight!'” It was normal for him. I can still clearly recall that. I believe it was more ‘don’t goof up’ for the coaches.

“Ander was a decent man. He had no self-control; he was all passion and emotion.

The surreal atmosphere during manager Louis van Gaal’s theatrics was not lost on him either, as he recounted: “It was a crazy day, Van Gaal did that impression of Alexis Sanchez on the touchline [when he fell to the ground]. I just noticed it after the fact since I was warming up and assumed a fight was going on or something.

On the subject of fellow Red Marcus Rashford, he shared his personal connections and the striker’s meteoric rise: “For Marcus to score twice was surreal really. It added even more specialness to the day. I was a bit older than him, but we were in the same digs together for a couple of years. We used to play FIFA together and go out for food, but I didn’t play with him too much as I was a bit older than him.

“When he got to the reserves we had a couple of games, but he was straight through to the first team really. He missed that period because we had no strikers at the time, he went on to take his chance and the rest is history. We all knew he was the top one in his age group and that he was always destined to reach pretty good heights.”

James Weir (left) and Devonte Redmond of Manchester United raise the Barclays Under-21 Premier League trophy in 2016 (Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Pereira, Will Keane, Tyler Blackett, and Dean Henderson were among the many gifted players on Weir’s youth squad. At one point, he also shared the pitch with well-known players like Antonio Valencia, Jesse Lingard, Scott McTominay, Wayne Rooney, and Michael Carrick.

But now, Weir has decided to hang up his boots and transition into a new profession as a travel agent. “I can still play football at some level, but playing at a professional level day in and day out, my body didn’t have that,” he clarified in an interview with The Guardian. Living afar was no longer worth the sacrifice. I believed that in order to go on to something else, I needed to cut the connection early.