Brian McClair
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Brian John McClair | ||
| Date of birth | 8 December 1963 | ||
| Place of birth | Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) | ||
| Playing position |
Forward Midfielder |
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| 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) | ||
| 2006–2015 | Manchester United (Director of Youth Academy) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Brian John McClair (born 8 December 1963) is a Scottish former professional footballer.
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 the University of Glasgow. He was nicknamed "Choccy", as his last name rhymed with the delicacy "chocolate eclair".
After retiring from playing, McClair took on a coaching role at Manchester United, and spent several years as Director of their Youth Academy.
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. Initially a midfielder, manager Jock Wallace converted him to a striker. 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, and both goals in a 2–1 win over Celtic eleven days later.
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. However, McClair would never actually play for McNeill, as the Celtic manager resigned in June 1983 and was replaced by Davie Hay.
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