Brian McClair

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. Initially a midfielder, manager Jock Wallace converted him to a striker. McClair went 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.

Celtic

In May 1983, Billy McNeill signed McClair for Celtic, for a fee of £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. McClair scored in a 2–0 win on his debut against Partick Thistle at Firhill in the Glasgow Cup on 9 August 1983. 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, an outstanding solo goal in a 5–0 win over Sporting CP in the UEFA Cup, and a goal in the 3–2 extra time defeat against Rangers in the League Cup Final in March 1984 highlighted McClair's goalscoring ability. The following season saw the arrival of Mo Johnston from Watford and, despite their contrasting personalities, McClair…

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 teammate and striker partner, Mo Johnston. Scotland failed to qualify for this tournament, but McClair became a regular in the Scotland squad for the next six years. He made five appearances for Scotland in the qualifiers for the 1990 World Cup. McClair also played for Scotland in a 'B' international against East Germany in April 1990 shortly before the 1990 World Cup. However, although Scotland qualified for this tournament, he failed to make manager Andy Roxburgh's 22-man squad. Despite his omission, 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). His final appearance for Scotland came in June 1993, when he scored the opening goal for Scotland in a 3–1 win over Estonia at Pittodrie.

McClair returned south of the border in December 1998 to become Brian Kidd's assistant at Blackburn Rovers. But the pair were unable to prevent Blackburn from slipping out of the Premier League, and within a year, both had been sacked. He returned to Old Trafford as a youth team coach soon afterwards. 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 teammate Steve Bruce, who was then managing Sheffield United. In 2001, McClair was appointed as Manchester United reserve team manager, and promptly won the Premier Reserve League in his first season as coach. In his second season, he was in charge of the Under-19 team which clinched the 2003 FA Youth Cup. Some players from that team, such as 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. 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, McClair replaced him as the director of the Manchester United…

Though born in Bellshill, McClair was brought up in Airdrie and supported Airdrieonians as a child. McClair has three children.