Forfar Athletic manager Jim Weir says he would love to see former club Elgin City promoted from League 2 as he prepares to face Borough Briggs side for first time
Elgin City’s most successful SPFL manager is plotting their downfall this weekend.
But new Forfar Athletic boss Jim Weir admits he would dearly love to see his former side City achieve their first promotion in 25 years of league football.
Weir managed the Black and Whites for three years and 126 matches between 2014 and 2017, returning five years later as his successor Gavin Price’s assistant.
Now the former City duo are reunited as Forfar’s management team, and will face up to their old club for the first time on Saturday.
Weir is back in the manager’s chair with the Angus club, assisted by Price in the same pecking order as when the pair first joined Elgin a decade ago.
Just like Elgin were in 2014, Forfar are rooted to the bottom of League 2 and in need of some inspiration to preserve their league status.
The new partnership have picked up three draws and a win in six games in charge so far, and Weir said there will be no misplaced loyalties when they take on the Black and Whites on Saturday.
But he added that he would dearly love to see Elgin forge on from their current position and gain the promotion he was so close to achieving in his own time at Borough Briggs.
“Elgin will be a new test for us,” he said. “They are doing absolutely fantastic and I'm really pleased for the club.
“But we will go out there to try and win the game on Saturday, of course.
“Elgin have a great chance to get promoted this season and nobody more than me would like to see that club promoted at some time. But we have to go out on Saturday and concentrate on getting a job done for Forfar.”
Weir still has the best record of City’s 11 permanent SPFL manager since joining the league in 2000.
He achieved a 42 per cent win rate and averaged just over 1.5 league points per game, steering Elgin to the play-offs in 2016.
With Price at the helm, the Black and Whites made the play-offs for the third time in their history in 2021, but have never got past the semi-finals stage.
Weir said: “Our time at Elgin we both enjoyed, both when I was manager then Gav was, we almost got to the next stage which the club hasn’t managed to do.
“But they are in a very good position to do that this year and I hope that they do well, not at our expense of course.”
The Forfar management team has worked with many of the current Elgin squad, and Weir has a great admiration for the job being done by present manager Allan Hale and his assistant Stefan Laird.
“There’s not too many faces there that I am not aware of,” he said. “Allan had done a great job at the club with the players that he has recruited, from the reports that we have had and what we’ve seen.
“Certainly there’s a strong, physical side there and I know there’s been a few injuries there but they had a brilliant result against Peterhead, even with the injuries. So it doesn’t seem to have weakened them, judging by their results.
“I know that their away form hasn’t quite matched what they’ve done at home. At Borough Briggs they have been fantastic and that has been key to their success just now.
“It will be good to see a few familiar faces, guys like Cecil (club director Jack) who I have a lot of time for from my time there.
With Forfar playing on a 4G surface at Station Park, Weir said there would need to be a drastic deterioration to the weather for Saturday’s game to be called off.
Weir left Elgin in 2017 to manage Forfar in League 1, steering them away from relegation in his first season. He stepped down two years later and took some time away from football after being involved in a car accident.
“It’s good to be back in management, and great for myself and Gav to be back working together, the way it was the first time. We are both enjoying it.
“There’s a lot of work to be done and we are in a difficult position but we have been doing alright. We’ve not quite got the points that we have deserved in the last three or four games, but that’s going to turn around sometime.”
Weir made a notable signing this week in bringing former Dundee United, Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle midfielder Craig Slater back to the club after a spell at league 1 Arbroath.
“When I first took on the Elgin job they were in a very, very similar position to where Forfar are now, and it is a difficult job but one we feel we can be successful in.
“There’s still an awful lot of points to play. We have played five or six teams now and we played Peterhead and East Fife and in both games I feel we should have taken more.”
