Brian McClair

Brian McClair

Personal information
Full name	Brian John McClair
Date of birth	(1963-12-08) 8 December 1963
Place of birth	Bellshill, Scotland
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Forward Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Manchester United (Director of Youth Academy)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1980–1981	Aston Villa	0	(0)
1981–1983	Motherwell	40	(15)
1983–1987	Celtic	145	(99)
1987–1998	Manchester United	355	(88)
1998	Motherwell	11	(0)
Total		551	(202)
National team
1983–1985	Scotland U21	8	(2)
1986–1993	Scotland	30	(2)
1990	Scotland B	1	(0)
Teams managed
1998–1999	Blackburn Rovers (assistant)
2006–	Manchester United (Director of Youth Academy)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Brian John McClair (born 8 December 1963) is a Scottish former professional footballer and director of youth academy at Premier League side Manchester United.

As a player he was a forward from 1980 to 1998, notable for his near 11-year spell at Manchester United, as well as important tenures at Scottish clubs Celtic and Motherwell. At Motherwell, he combined his football with studying mathematics at Glasgow University.^[1][2] He was nicknamed "Choccy", as his last name rhymed with the delicacy "chocolate eclair".^[3]

Club career

Early career

McClair began his career with Aston Villa on leaving school in 1980, but left after one season (in which Villa were Football League champions) having never played a competitive game.

He then returned to Scotland in the summer of 1981 and signed for Motherwell. McClair would go on to score 15 league goals in two seasons, including a hat-trick at Fir Park in a 3–0 win over Rangers on 3 January 1983,^[4] and both goals in a 2–1 win over Celtic eleven days later.^[5][6]

Celtic

In May 1983, Billy McNeill signed McClair for Celtic, with the fee being £100,000. McClair was effectively signed as a replacement for the recently departed Charlie Nicholas.^[7] However, McClair would never actually play for McNeill, as the Celtic manager resigned in June 1983 and was replaced by Davie Hay.^[7]

McClair scored in a 2–0 win on his debut against Partick Thistle at Firhill in the Glasgow Cup on 9 August 1983.^[8] By the end of an impressive first season at Celtic, McClair had scored 32 goals and established himself as a first team regular. A four-goal haul against Dundee in a 6–2 win during September,^[9][10] an outstanding solo goal in a 5–0 win over Sporting Lisbon in the UEFA Cup,^[11][12] and a goal in the 2–3 defeat against Rangers in the League Cup Final in March 1984^[13] highlighted McClair's goalscoring ability.

The following season saw the arrival of Mo Johnston from Watford and, despite their contrasting personalities, McClair and Johnston would quickly form a deadly goalscoring partnership for Celtic.^[7] McClair continued to score regularly for Celtic, and at the end of the season won his first winner's medal, coming on as a substitute in Celtic's 2–1 win over Dundee United in the 1985 Scottish Cup Final.^[14]

Despite competition from Alan McInally and Mark McGhee, McClair and Johnston remained the regular pairing playing up front for Celtic. Their goals helped Celtic to a dramatic league championship win in 1985–86; a memorable 5–0 win over St Mirren at Love Street on the last day of the season with McClair and Johnston both scoring twice as title-rivals Hearts capitulated to a 2–0 defeat at Dundee.^[15]

Season 1986–87 would be McClair's last at Celtic. Despite a bright start to the season from Celtic, the team's form began to fade during the winter months and the club would go on to squander a 9-point lead in the league, which was eventually won by Rangers. Another league cup final defeat against Rangers (despite an outstanding goal by McClair)^[16] and a fourth-round defeat at Hearts in the Scottish Cup saw Celtic finish the season without any silverware. Despite Celtic's lack of achievement, McClair was an outstanding success that year. He scored 41 goals in total, finishing top scorer in the league with 35 goals and won both the Scottish Football Writers' Association Player of the Year and the Scottish Players' Player of the Year awards.^[17]

In four seasons with at Celtic, McClair made 204 appearances in all competitions and scored 126 goals.^[18] He won the Scottish Cup 1985 and the Scottish Premier Division in 1986.^[19]

Manchester United

McClair is best remembered, however, for his time at Manchester United. He joined them in July 1987. The transfer fee of £850,000 was eventually set by a transfer tribunal panel due to a dispute between Manchester United and Celtic over what the fee should be – Celtic initially wanted £2million for him, a fee which would have made him the most expensive player at the time to have signed for any British club, whilst Manchester United had offered only £400,000.^[20]

In 11 years at Old Trafford, he made a total of 471 appearances and scored 127 goals in all competitions.^[21] In later years, as his first team opportunities were reduced, McClair became somewhat of a cult hero at Manchester United due to his Choccy's Diary being published in the official Manchester United magazine.^[22]

In his first season for Manchester United he scored 24 league goals, becoming the first Manchester United player to surpass 20 league goals in one season since George Best in the 1967–68 season.^[23][24] His first goal for Manchester United came in the third game of the season, a 2–0 home win over Watford.^[25][26] He scored in the next game, a 3–1 away win over Charlton Athletic.^[27] He scored a brace in the 4–2 away over Sheffield Wednesday on 10 October 1987,^[28] and another double in the late December win over defending champions Everton.^[28] He put a further double over Sheffield Wednesday in the March return game at Old Trafford,^[29] and scored a hat-trick against Derby County in early April.^[30] In the final two games of the season (against Portsmouth and Wimbledon) he managed two further braces.^[31][32] Only Liverpool's John Aldridge managed more First Division goals that season.^[33] McClair managed a total of 31 goals in all competitions, but a late penalty miss in the fifth round of the FA Cup at Arsenal^[34] meant that Manchester United lost the tie 2–1 and he was denied the chance of silverware as well as building on his already highly impressive goals tally.

1988–89 was a trying season for United after the excellent progress of 1987–88. After a season playing alongside Peter Davenport, McClair now found himself paired with returning hero Mark Hughes (back at Manchester United after two years abroad) and much was expected of the newly formed partnership. By the end of November, McClair had scored just twice in the league and Hughes had found the net eight times, and Manchester United were mid-table after a run of eight draws and one defeat. Results improved over the next couple of months as United crept to the fringes of the title challenge, but fell away in the final quarter of the season as Manchester United finished 11th. McClair and Hughes both managed 16 goals in all competitions, with Hughes being leading scorer in the league with 14 goals opposed to McClair's 10.

He was on the winning side as Manchester United won 1–0 over Crystal Palace in the 1990 FA Cup Final replay at Wembley Stadium on 17 May 1990, five days after drawing 3–3 in the first match.^[35] In the league, however, it had been a disappointing time for McClair as he scored just five goals and Manchester United finished 13th – their lowest finish since they were relegated from the top flight 16 years earlier. He was now facing competition from highly promising young striker Mark Robins,^[36] who had scored 10 goals in 23 first team games that season.^[37]

He did however score the winning goal for Manchester United in the 1991 UEFA Super Cup against Red Star Belgrade,^[38] which followed his part in their European Cup Winners' Cup triumph over Barcelona.^[39] McClair had now won the fight to keep his place in the first team as he rediscovered his goalscoring touch and Mark Robins was now struggling to get into the team.

In October 1990, McClair was involved in controversy when in reaction to a late challenge he repeatedly kicked Arsenal's Nigel Winterburn in the back as he lay prone on the ground, sparking a 21-man brawl. Manchester United had a point deducted for this episode, and Arsenal (who went on to be league champions that season) had two points docked.^[40]

In 1991–92, McClair scored the only goal in the 1992 League Cup Final against Nottingham Forest at Wembley,^[41] though he missed out on a league title winner's medal as United's shortage of goals in the second half of the season cost them the championship, which was clinched by Leeds United.^[42][43] Alex Ferguson then made unsuccessful bids for strikers David Hirst^[44] and Alan Shearer,^[45] sparking speculation that either McClair or Mark Hughes would be forced out of the first team by the new signings, but in the end the new striker signed was Dion Dublin, who was bought as backup for McClair and Hughes.^[46]

Having been the main striker for Manchester United during his first season, and then partnering Mark Hughes when the Welshman returned from Barcelona, McClair was switched to a central midfield role when Eric Cantona joined United in November 1992, the casualty of this position being the veteran Bryan Robson, who from this point onwards was mostly used as a substitute.

When Roy Keane was signed the following summer, McClair's first team opportunities became increasingly limited. He did, however, manage another Cup Final appearance and another goal at Wembley, coming off the bench to score Manchester United's fourth goal as they beat Chelsea 4–0 in the 1994 FA Cup Final.^[47][48] He was rarely left out of the squad, often coming on as a substitute to play in midfield or attack. In 1993–94, the first season where he was no longer considered a first team regualar, he appeared in 26 league games (though starting just 12 of them) and scored one goal, although he managed a total of six goals in all competitions from 38 appearances (19 starts, 19 as a substitute). He had a much more active campaign in 1994–95, playing in all but two of the 42 league games, and scored five goals. In total, he played 53 games in all competitions and scored eight goals.^[21]

When squad numbers were introduced in the Premier League for its second season in 1993–94, McClair was issued with the number 9 shirt that had traditionally been his during the days of 1–11 shirt numbering.^[49] However, this number went to Andy Cole at the start of the 1996–97 season, after which McClair wore the number 13 shirt.^[49]

Despite his infrequent first team appearances, McClair elected to stay on at Manchester United as a squad player, providing reliable cover in midfield and attack and making over 40 appearances (in the first eleven or as a substitute) in 1994–95. He was still trucking along in 1996–97, and on the first day of that season, McClair was credited with an assist for David Beckham's spectacular goal from the halfway line against Wimbledon.^[50][51] McClair had a hand in another memorable goal that season, assisting Eric Cantona in his famous chipped goal on 21 December 1996 against Sunderland at Old Trafford.^[52] On 15 April 1997 a crowd of over 44,000, including an estimated 10,000 Celtic supporters, attended McClair's testimonial game against his former club Celtic at Old Trafford.^[53]

He scored a total of 127 goals for Manchester United, the last two coming against Coventry City in a 4–0 away league win on 22 November 1995, although he made some 60 first team appearances over the next two and a half years (mostly as a substitute).^[54]

Motherwell

At the end of the 1997–98 season, McClair was given a free transfer to complete his playing days elsewhere. He accepted an offer to return to Motherwell,^[55] where he spent six months before announcing his retirement.

International career

In international football, McClair won 30 caps for Scotland. He made his debut in November 1986 in a 3–0 win over Luxembourg at Hampden Park. The match was a qualifier for Euro 88, and McClair played in midfield behind his Celtic team-mate and striker partner, Mo Johnston.^[56][57] Scotland failed to qualify for Euro 88, but McClair became a regular in the Scotland squad for the next six years. He made 5 appearances for Scotland in the qualifiers for the 1990 World Cup.^[58][59] McClair also played for Scotland in a 'B' international against East Germany in April 1990 shortly before the 1990 World Cup.^[60] However, although Scotland qualified for the World Cup, he failed to make manager Andy Roxburgh's 22-man squad.

Despite his omission from the 1990 World Cup squad, McClair continued to feature regularly for Scotland and represented his country at the 1992 European Championships, where he scored his first international goal in a 3–0 win over the CIS (formerly USSR).^[61] His final appearance for Scotland came in June 1993, where he scored the opening goal for Scotland in a 3–1 win over Estonia at Pittodrie.^[62][63]

Management & coaching career

McClair returned south of the border in December 1998 to become Brian Kidd's assistant at Blackburn Rovers.^[64] But the pair were unable to prevent Blackburn from slipping out of the Premier League and within a year both had been sacked.^[65] He returned to Old Trafford as a youth team coach soon afterwards.

Ironically, when Kidd first joined Blackburn after being assistant manager at Manchester United, McClair was one of several high profile names to be linked with the assistant manager's vacancy at Old Trafford, as was former team mate Steve Bruce – who was managing Sheffield United at this stage.

In 2001 he was appointed as Reserve Team manager,^[2] and promptly won the Premier Reserve League in his first season as coach.^[66] In his second season, he was in charge of the Under-19 team which clinched the 2003 FA Youth Cup.^[67] Some players from that team, like David Jones, Chris Eagles and Kieran Richardson went on to make appearances in the first team.

At the end of the 2004–05 season the first team finished trophyless, but the Reserve Teams headed by Ricky Sbragia, with McClair as his assistant, won an unprecedented quadruple of the Pontins' Holidays League, the FA Premier Reserve League, The Pontins' Holidays League Cup and the Premier Reserve League Playoff.^[66] Their quest for an unprecedented five trophies was thwarted when they lost to Manchester City in the Manchester Senior Cup.

After a year of shadowing Les Kershaw, Manchester United's then academy director McClair replaced him at the start of the 2006–07 season,^[68] and is now the Director of Manchester United's youth academy,^[2] of which his son, Liam, was once a member.^[69]

Career statistics

Club	Season	League		Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other[nb 1]		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Motherwell	1981–82	20	7	1	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	26	7
	1982–83	20	8	1	1	5	1	0	0	0	0	26	10
	Total	40	15	2	1	10	1	0	0	0	0	52	17
Celtic	1983–84	35	23	5	6	9	1	6	1	2	1	57	32
	1984–85	32	19	6	0	3	3	5	2	0	0	46	24
	1985–86	34	22	3	3	3	1	2	0	2	3	44	29
	1986–87	44	35	4	2	5	4	4	0	0	0	57	41
	Total	145	99	18	11	20	9	17	3	4	4	204	126
Manchester United	1987–88	40	24	3	2	5	5	0	0	0	0	48	31
	1988–89	38	10	7	3	3	3	0	0	0	0	48	16
	1989–90	37	5	8	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	48	8
	1990–91	36	13	3	2	9	2	9	4	1	0	58	21
	1991–92	42	18	3	1	8	4	5	2	0	0	58	25
	1992–93	42	9	3	0	3	0	2	0	0	0	50	9
	1993–94	26	1	5	1	7	4	0	0	0	0	38	6
	1994–95	40	5	7	2	3	1	2	0	1	0	53	8
	1995–96	22	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	23	3
	1996–97	19	0	3	0	2	0	3	0	0	0	27	0
	1997–98	13	0	3	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	20	0
	Total	355	88	45	14	45	19	24	6	2	0	471	127
Motherwell	1998–99	11	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	13	0
Career total		551	202	65	26	77	29	41	9	6	4	740	270

^[70][71][72]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	18 June 1992	Idrottsparken, Norrköping, Sweden	CIS	3–0[73]	Win	UEFA Euro 1992
2	2 June 1993	Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Scotland	Estonia	3–1[74]	Win	1994 World Cup qualification
Correct as of 13 January 2013[75]

Honours

Player

Celtic

• Scottish League Championship (1): 1985–86
• Scottish Cup (1): 1984–85

Manchester United

• Premier League (4): 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97
• FA Cup (3): 1989–90, 1993–94, 1995–96
• League Cup (1): 1991–92
• FA Charity Shield (5): 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1990–91
• UEFA Super Cup (1): 1991

Manager

Manchester United Reserves

• Premier Reserve League North (1): 2001–02

Individual

• Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year: 1987
• Scottish Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year: 1987

Notes

1. ↑ Includes other competitive competitions, including the FA Community Shield and the Glasgow Cup

References

External links

• Brian McClair career stats at Soccerbase
• Brian McClair Man Utd stats

v t e Scottish League top division top scorers 1891: Bell 1892: Bell 1893: Campbell / McMahon 1894: McMahon 1895: J. Miller 1896: Martin 1897: Taylor 1898: Hamilton 1899: Hamilton 1900: Hamilton / Michael 1901: Hamilton 1902: Maxwell 1903: D. Reid 1904: Hamilton 1905: Hamilton / Quinn 1906: Quinn 1907: Quinn 1908: Simpson 1909: Hunter 1910: Quinn 1911: W. Reid 1912: W. Reid 1913: J. Reid 1914: J. Reid 1915: Gracie / Richardson 1916: McColl 1917: Yarnall 1918: H. Ferguson 1919: McLean 1920: H. Ferguson 1921: H. Ferguson 1922: Walker 1923: White 1924: Halliday 1925: Devlin 1926: Devlin 1927: McGrory 1928: McGrory 1929: Morrison 1930: Yorston 1931: Battles 1932: MacFadyen 1933: MacFadyen 1934: Smith 1935: Smith 1936: McGrory 1937: Wilson 1938: Black 1939: Venters 1947: Mitchell 1948: Aikman 1949: Stott 1950: Bauld 1951: Reilly 1952: Reilly 1953: Fleming / Reilly 1954: Wardhaugh 1955: Bauld 1956: Wardhaugh 1957: Baird 1958: Bauld / Murray 1959: Baker 1960: Baker 1961: Harley 1962: Gilzean 1963: Millar 1964: Gilzean 1965: Forrest 1966: A. Ferguson / McBride 1967: Chalmers 1968: Lennox 1969: Cameron 1970: Stein 1971: Hood 1972: Harper 1973: Gordon 1974: Deans 1975: Gray / Pettigrew 1976: Dalglish 1977: Pettigrew 1978: Johnstone 1979: Ritchie 1980: Somner 1981: McGarvey 1982: McCluskey 1983: Nicholas 1984: McClair 1985: McDougall 1986: McCoist 1987: McClair 1988: Coyne 1989: McGhee / Nicholas 1990: Robertson 1991: Coyne 1992: McCoist 1993: McCoist 1994: Hateley 1995: Coyne 1996: Van Hooijdonk 1997: Cadete 1998: Negri 1999: Larsson 2000: Viduka 2001: Larsson 2002: Larsson 2003: Larsson 2004: Larsson 2005: Hartson 2006: Boyd 2007: Boyd 2008: McDonald 2009: Boyd 2010: Boyd 2011: K. Miller 2012: Hooper 2013: Higdon

v t e PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year 1978: Johnstone 1979: Hegarty 1980: Provan 1981: McGhee 1982: Clark 1983: Nicholas 1984: Miller 1985: Duffy 1986: Gough 1987: McClair 1988: McStay 1989: Snelders 1990: Bett 1991: Elliott 1992: McCoist 1993: Goram 1994: Hateley 1995: Laudrup 1996: Gascoigne 1997: Di Canio 1998: McNamara 1999: Larsson 2000: Viduka 2001: Larsson 2002: Amoruso 2003: Ferguson 2004: Sutton 2005: Hartson / Ricksen 2006: Maloney 2007: Nakamura 2008: McGeady 2009: Brown 2010: Davis 2011: Izaguirre 2012: Mulgrew 2013: Higdon

v t e SFWA Footballer of the Year 1965: McNeill 1966: Greig 1967: Simpson 1968: Wallace 1969: Murdoch 1970: Stanton 1971: Buchan 1972: Smith 1973: Connelly 1974: Scotland 1975: Jardine 1976: Greig 1977: McGrain 1978: Johnstone 1979: Ritchie 1980: Strachan 1981: Rough 1982: Sturrock 1983: Nicholas 1984: Miller 1985: McAlpine 1986: Jardine 1987: McClair 1988: McStay 1989: Gough 1990: McLeish 1991: Malpas 1992: McCoist 1993: Goram 1994: Hateley 1995: Laudrup 1996: Gascoigne 1997: Laudrup 1998: Burley 1999: Larsson 2000: Ferguson 2001: Larsson 2002: Lambert 2003: Ferguson 2004: McNamara 2005: Hartson 2006: Gordon 2007: Nakamura 2008: Cuéllar 2009: Caldwell 2010: Weir 2011: Izaguirre 2012: Mulgrew 2013: Griffiths

v t e Scotland squad – UEFA Euro 1992 1 Goram 2 Gough (c) 3 McStay 4 Malpas 5 McCoist 6 McClair 7 Durie 8 McPherson 9 McKimmie 10 McCall 11 McAllister 12 Smith 13 Nevin 14 Gallacher 15 Boyd 16 McInally 17 Whyte 18 Bowman 19 McLaren 20 Ferguson Coach: Roxburgh

v t e Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year 1988: McClair 1989: Robson 1990: Pallister 1991: Hughes 1992: McClair 1993: Ince 1994: Cantona 1995: Kanchelskis 1996: Cantona 1997: Beckham 1998: Giggs 1999: Keane 2000: Keane 2001: Sheringham 2002: Van Nistelrooy 2003: Van Nistelrooy 2004: Ronaldo 2005: Heinze 2006: Rooney 2007: Ronaldo 2008: Ronaldo 2009: Vidić 2010: Rooney 2011: Hernández 2012: Valencia 2013: Van Persie

Persondata
Name	McClair, Brian
Alternative names
Short description	Scottish footballer
Date of birth	8 December 1963
Place of birth	Bellshill, Scotland
Date of death
Place of death