Brian McClair talks about his all-time favourite goal, what he thinks of players going to the Saudi Arabian league, his away day roommates and Sir Alex Ferguson in this edition of our Six of the Best Podcast.
The Scottish international, who won Premier Leagues, FA Cups and the European Cup Winners' Cup with Manchester United also won the Scottish Cup and Scottish Premier Division with Celtic.
The Scottish international, who won Premier Leagues, FA Cups and the European Cup Winners' Cup with Manchester United also won the Scottish Cup and Scottish Premier Division with Celtic.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Today's guest on the podcast is simply a man you know, great.
00:04 Winning 14 trophies in a near 11 year spell with the club,
00:07 including four Premier Leagues, two FA Cups and a European Cup Winners' Cup,
00:11 as well as a Scottish Cup and a Scottish League winner with Celtic.
00:14 He'll be coming to the Apex in Braceton, Edmonds on September the 5th
00:17 with Andrew Cole for an audience with Manchester United Legends.
00:20 I'm over the moon to welcome the brilliant Brian McClare.
00:24 Brian, how are you?
00:25 - I'm excellent, thank you very much. How are you?
00:28 - No, really, really good. Really, really good.
00:31 So obviously, for those that haven't come to one of these sort of
00:35 Man United Legends nights before, I mean, what can people expect from it?
00:40 - It's a kind of look through the past at events,
00:45 both in my career and in Andrew Cole's career.
00:51 And we try and make it humorous and entertaining as possible.
00:56 - Yeah, I bet you guys have got some good stories.
00:59 And do the audience also get a chance to ask you a few questions?
01:03 - Yes, they do. Yeah, it's split into two parts.
01:07 The first part is, I was going to say it's choreographed, but that's not quite right.
01:13 We've got to compare for the first part.
01:15 So the first part is, we're led through, yes, the first part.
01:20 So there's this kind of stories that certainly from my point of view,
01:25 I want to tell that might not come up in the question and answer from the audience in the second part of the show.
01:32 So the second part, yeah, the audience participation.
01:35 So there'll be a break and allows the audience to come up with some questions
01:41 that then we will try to answer or do our best to answer in a particular fashion in the second part of the show.
01:50 So, yeah, it's very, very much people involved.
01:53 - Yeah, I like that. I mean, I've always found sort of speeches and after dinner stuff can be funny,
02:03 but I find the spontaneity of not knowing what you're going to be asked and indeed then what you're going to answer to be quite riveting, really.
02:14 So I enjoy that kind of cold jeopardy.
02:22 - Well, hopefully, hopefully these questions I've got here as well are going to be...
02:26 - Well, get your questions here because I've no idea what you're going to ask me, you know.
02:30 - People in podcast land, I've already got tickets to the search engine tonight.
02:33 You really need to grab them as well, because I know I've been to, dare I say, a Liverpool one.
02:40 It was a good night. So I know this one's going to be a good night as well.
02:43 So now, Brian, with this being the Six of Best podcast,
02:46 I've taken questions from people who think they know football pretty well.
02:50 I've taken them from fantasy football league managers I know.
02:54 So I hope you're ready for these. - Yes, I am.
02:59 - Cool. So let's dive right in. I mean, the first question comes from Russell Claydon, our sports editor,
03:04 and he's an Ipswich Town fan and he wants to know, obviously you played in FA Cup finals,
03:09 but what were your experiences of FA Cup final songs and what do you think about that whole thing?
03:17 - Well, I mean, most FA Cup, most football songs are pretty poor, apart from one or two.
03:26 But they kind of get the way that it, because of the passing of time, they become not better,
03:35 but almost not as bad, you know, when you've got a lot of different things to compare them against.
03:43 I loved the New Order football song, and of course I like the lightning seeds.
03:52 I quite like it's coming home, you know, but apart from the sentiment of it, really.
03:58 We ended up getting a number one with the status quo, so I love that.
04:05 As a bonus apart from that, because I didn't think it would be as successful as it was, you know,
04:10 there was a, we agreed to do the song, everybody was great at the status quo,
04:16 and we were all to record it, did a little video, and it caught the imagination
04:23 that some novelty records do, went to number one, and I've got a gold disc, which I'm very proud of.
04:31 - Ah, cool. Brilliant. Okay, the next one I've got is from my fan and my colleague, Cameron Reid,
04:39 and he said that two of your passes obviously set up two of the most iconic goals for Man United,
04:46 if you like, David Beckham's halfway hit from, for Wimbledon, and Eric Cantona's chip against Sunderland.
04:56 But he wants to know what was your favourite goal, and what was your favourite goal that you ever saw on the pitch?
05:05 - I don't have a, well, it's quite funny you're asking that question,
05:09 so it's something I get asked quite often about those two events with Cantona and Beckham,
05:16 and I can kind of, and I may well say this when we're doing the events together with Andrew and myself,
05:25 is that my career at Manchester United can be summed up by two very short passes,
05:32 two incidents against Arsenal, one of them a missed penalty and one a 20-man brawl.
05:40 So that's my whole 11 years as a player at Manchester United just sorted there.
05:48 I've never, I don't have a particular favourite goal, because I look upon them all as wonderful events to have,
05:54 you know, there's some more spectacular, not so many spectacular, you know,
05:59 because I always found that most goals were scored quite close to the goal.
06:02 So if you hang about there, you know that occasionally, sometimes a goalkeeper may even drop the ball.
06:10 My favourite goal, and I always loved headed goals, you know, I used to practise jumping and heading.
06:16 So my favourite goal would be Pelle's header in the 1970 World Cup final against Italy.
06:25 I think maybe it's just, I think just the whole kind of thing about it, you know,
06:29 that the whole how they play, the cross and the leap and the power that Pelle managed to get for me,
06:40 it's a thing of beauty that I think I actually got an artwork somewhere of that,
06:45 minimalised down to a piece of art with the, you would get using little dots and different things rather than actual people,
06:57 you know, so it's a nice little graphic kind of thing.
07:00 So yeah, that's something that I would never tire of watching.
07:07 Cool. Excellent. The next one comes from a Norwich fan, one of my colleagues, James Hotchkiss,
07:14 and he asks, with the news, obviously, of the £259 million bid for Kylian Mbappe to go to the Saudi League,
07:23 I mean, if that had been an option sort of in your playing days,
07:26 I mean, would you have ever considered a move to say there or the Chinese League or the MLS?
07:34 Well, first of all, I can't imagine Kylian Mbappe going to Saudi Arabia to spout that huge bid that has been made.
07:44 He has, I think, been absolutely sure his mind on playing for Real Madrid, which is understandable.
07:55 I don't quite get the part where all of these people,
07:59 when they were growing up, had a dream of playing in the desert in the Middle East, Arabia.
08:08 There were opportunities in the sense of, if you're talking about chances of making a bit more money,
08:16 but it was nothing I was particularly interested in. When I left Celtic, in fact,
08:20 everybody offered me more money than the money I agreed to go to Manchester United.
08:26 I wanted to go to Manchester United. I wanted to be part of what turned out to be a ridiculous dream and idea that Alex Ferguson had.
08:34 He told me that he was going to rebuild a football club, not just a football team.
08:40 And yes, I said it was beyond anybody's imagination that what he achieved would be a reality.
08:50 So I was never, I've never been altruistic.
08:53 It's not something I was that bothered about, you know.
09:01 But I can understand why people would want to go, but not for me.
09:04 Not a bit attracted to any of that kind of thing.
09:10 -Talking about Sir Alex Ferguson, my cousin Dave, who's a Man United fan, brings up the next question.
09:17 In a recent interview Sir Alex Ferguson had, he said that you were one of three players that he had in his managerial career that he felt were underrated.
09:29 I mean, how do you feel about that?
09:32 Do you feel that you were a little underrated as a player?
09:36 -No, I didn't have any feelings that as an individual that you needed to have any kind of,
09:43 well, either equal amounts of praise or equal amounts of criticism.
09:48 For me, that the only person that you were, I recognised quite early on in football,
09:53 the person you needed to please was the coach or the person who picked the team, the coach, the manager, whatever it is.
10:00 And I just tried to please them.
10:04 And I've always wanted to be part of a team.
10:07 So playing football was brilliant for me.
10:11 So Alex Ferguson picking me in several positions and asking me to play several different roles over all those years, I was delighted to do.
10:21 I wasn't looking for any kind of glory.
10:28 I wanted to win things and want to be part of winning teams.
10:31 But the satisfaction for me was being named in that first XI and hopefully playing more good games and bad games,
10:41 which I'm not quite sure whether it was or wasn't, but Alex Ferguson kept picking me over that period of time.
10:48 And I'm very proud to be part of that.
10:50 So it's nice again for him to be mentioned.
10:53 It's always nice to get mentioned, as I think it was Ronnie Yones in G'song Park as well.
10:59 So I saw him, I mean, Eric Cantona had a great quote about Didier Deschamps, where he was being,
11:05 I think, critical in calling Didier a water carrier as the type of player he saw him.
11:12 But you need to have water carriers in order for the great performers,
11:17 you need the supporting cast in order for the lead actor to do their best of what they do.
11:26 And I saw myself as that kind of thing, being part of a team, whatever the role that Alex Ferguson was asking me to do,
11:32 if he was asking me to do it, I was comfortable because it meant that he trusted me.
11:38 He knew that, you know, for example, one game at Goodison against Everton,
11:43 I knew I wasn't playing, I wasn't starting anyway, because the team had been named the day before.
11:49 We get to Goodison and he names the team again.
11:51 And I'm thinking, I thought he just mentioned my name there.
11:55 And I thought, am I playing that?
11:58 And it turned out that he'd fallen out with Andre Kinchelskis.
12:02 And I was playing basically left side of midfield.
12:06 I'd never really played there before.
12:10 I think he just expected me just to have a 6 out of 10 performance.
12:15 So that was great to be involved in all that.
12:16 So there was no real... I'm quite happy to get mentioned as that type of player, you know,
12:23 but very satisfied or even more satisfied.
12:27 If you look back, going talking about dreams, I used to daydream about being a football player,
12:32 walking to school, vividly remember it, 13, 14, 15, you know.
12:36 If people were saying to me in my teenage years that I am now,
12:40 that people like yourself would want to still talk to me about my career,
12:43 I would be fascinated and amazed by it.
12:46 - And yeah, I mean, obviously with these, you know, with these sort of Man United legend nights as well,
12:52 I mean, how do you sort of feel about those?
12:54 Like you said, that people still want to hear your stories and come to see you.
12:59 - Well, exactly. I mean, the fact that once someone thinks that someone is interested enough
13:05 to book you and then put, trying to find a venue to put these events on
13:12 and then for people, including yourself, to consider to part with their well-earned income
13:20 to come and see me and Andrew Cole is, I find it quite, well, it's very good, you know,
13:29 and I really, and I look at it as saying, well, if people want to come,
13:34 I try to make it as interesting as I possibly can, you know,
13:37 my whole idea, my whole kind of ethos of life is it's supposed to be enjoyable.
13:42 So every day I try and find something or it might just fall upon me that's entertaining, you know,
13:47 so doing what I'm doing now with you is entertaining, so that's pretty, I love it,
13:51 enjoy it, entertainment and find some ways of having amusement.
13:55 And I want anybody that comes along to at least laugh or, if they don't laugh,
14:00 I like their laughing better, but if they don't laugh,
14:03 then at least they've gone, maybe gone away with a little kernel of something
14:06 and all, I didn't know that, or that was quite interesting,
14:09 that allows them to, I suppose, perpetuate their, I suppose the reason a lot of them come,
14:15 because they love football and they may love Manchester United,
14:18 but me in particular, football, and if they can find something that fascinates them
14:23 or interests them or amuses them, that's what I think that our role is.
14:29 - Brilliant, and talking about that, sort of linking up with other players,
14:33 my brother Trev, who's a Man Utd fan, is the next person to ask a question
14:38 and he wants to know, you know, you were obviously part of great teams in your career,
14:42 but I mean, who are the players you linked with most on and off the pitch and why?
14:48 - Well, I mean, one of the great things about being part of a team is that it's about trusting them,
14:55 being respectful of them, and it's being loyal to each other, you know,
15:00 if you talk about, like, we weren't all great friends off the pitch,
15:05 but we got on well enough most of the time in the dressing room to have an enjoyable time
15:12 and to be able to trust and respect each other on the training field
15:16 and more particular in the games, and I got on really quite well with a lot of them,
15:22 you know, because in those times, in other ways, you had to develop relationships
15:27 because in away games, you had a roommate, you know, there was two of you to a room.
15:31 Now, I think they've all got, well, we're talking about, maybe they've got suites and everywhere they go,
15:36 but, and you have to develop a relationship. Now, part of the thing for me was,
15:40 and I was just sort of through some at the weekend,
15:44 and I don't know whether it was the manager getting me back for me taking the mickey out,
15:50 or attempting to take the mickey out, I got all the players who couldn't speak English,
15:54 so I had Andrej Končelskis, and Karl Pobosky, who I saw at the weekend,
16:00 and he's looking great, and Raymond van der Hout,
16:04 so you had to then develop a relationship with these people,
16:08 or it could be pretty difficult, you know,
16:13 because you're going away and spending the evening with these people in a room,
16:18 you know, where you've got just one mat, and it's the same kind of the dressing room,
16:22 so there wasn't, and then I think the car, we car-shared as well, you know,
16:26 I mean, Gary Pallister lived across the road from me,
16:30 and Jim Leighton lived around the corner, so we used to car-share,
16:34 so you developed different relationships, and in another part of town,
16:39 Steve Bruce, Peter Smykle and Paul Ince would all travel in together, you know,
16:44 and then, so people live in different areas,
16:47 some people, they were a bit more remote, had to travel on their own, like Mark Hughes, you know,
16:52 so, but it's normally, certainly my experience is,
16:58 and you don't really socialise with them, because you spend all that time,
17:03 you just kind of want to get away from each other, really,
17:06 and I think that's what we did, but when we see each other now,
17:09 we all have just, we've got on really well, you know,
17:12 as I say, I was away with some at the weekend,
17:15 I was with Andrew Cole in September,
17:19 I've been doing a couple of things with Brian Robson,
17:23 so there's always little bits and pieces of things that crop up that allow you to socialise again,
17:29 you know, and as I say, it's great to see people.
17:32 - Brilliant, that's a brilliant answer.
17:36 Finally, my group editor and a Leeds fan, Barry Peters, wants to know quite an easy question.
17:44 What do you take as your biggest memory from your career?
17:49 - Again, see that my career is my biggest memory, you know, because it all fits in together,
17:55 you know, so people will ask similar questions to you, saying, what was your favourite game?
18:00 Well, sometimes a favourite game or a game you remember in particular,
18:04 so one of the games I remember particularly again was another one,
18:08 a different one from the one where I was playing out of position,
18:12 I'm more out of position, and I had a first half to forget,
18:18 even though I haven't forgotten it, is that I didn't do one thing right.
18:22 I didn't pass the ball to anybody with the right shirt, I didn't tackle anybody,
18:27 I didn't shoot on target, nothing, I didn't do a single thing right,
18:31 which was quite an incredible feat. If you tried to do it, it would be almost impossible,
18:37 and I was expecting the hair dryer at half time, which I duly got, but in a kind of different way,
18:45 and I thought, well, I'm not sure I'll be going out the second half if I was that bad, you know,
18:51 and the manager talked to me, he said, don't you think you're getting away with that?
18:55 You're going back out in that second half, and you're going to show everybody out there
19:01 that's watching that you are not colourblind, and you can actually pass the ball to someone
19:07 with the same coloured shirt on, and they sent me back.
19:12 And yeah, I played better the second half, and I think I might have scored,
19:17 I'm not quite sure, but yeah, I played better the second half.
19:20 But that kind of reply allowed one of the other members of staff,
19:23 before every single game after that, to whisper in my ear,
19:27 remember we're playing in red, or remember we're playing in green and yellow,
19:32 remember we're playing in black, remember we're playing in white,
19:34 remember we're playing in blue, whatever it was, every single time,
19:37 it was a little glib comment, you know, from that period,
19:42 several months or several seasons after that, I got the same little thing, you know.
19:48 So these are coming out of, as I say, a first half that I did not do anything right.
19:55 So let's look at it as a whole body of work, which includes life, I suppose, involved in football,
20:01 and that would be including spending some time with you today, you know,
20:06 so many memories, and they're getting added to daily.
20:13 - I'm glad I'm added to the data bank of memories, that's brilliant.
20:20 - Well, that's, I mean, I might forget tomorrow, but yeah.
20:24 - I'll take it, I'll just take it as now, I'll just take it as what you just said.
20:28 So they were the six questions, I mean, how were they for you, Brian?
20:32 - They were very good, thank you, sir. Yeah, again, as I said,
20:35 what I've mentioned before, I like the jeopardy of not knowing what the questions were,
20:40 and a lot of the times as well is that sometimes when people ask me questions,
20:45 it's not the actual question, but sometimes another little story pops up, you know,
20:52 and I sometimes will, rather than answer that one, I tell a different story,
21:01 because I think the actual story I want to tell is better, you know,
21:05 so I don't always stick to, there isn't a script, but I don't always stick to the whole kind of thing,
21:11 because it'll happen, it'll happen, we're playing there consecutive nights in September,
21:17 and I won't be telling the same, exact same stories, because there'll be something else that pops up, you know.
21:24 - And that would be brilliant, and I mean, like I said, I've seen one of these sort of nights before,
21:29 and you know, and that's the brilliant thing about these nights,
21:33 and I just, I really can't wait to see yours.
21:37 - Well, that's very kind of you, yeah, but I'm looking forward to it myself, yeah, it's nice to be here.
21:43 So another thing as well, Kevin, allows you to see, I mean, we've, when you play football,
21:50 you see the hotel or a stadium in a particular geographic part of the world, really,
21:57 and doing the little things for these allows me to have a little wander around different towns,
22:03 you know, that are good for a reason, you know, so I look at it as a day out,
22:09 so I'm going to places that I've not been to before,
22:13 and hopefully I can be there for a little, as I say, a little wander around the towns for a couple of hours before the gig.
22:20 - No, you'll enjoy it. Bury St Edmunds is a lovely town, I'm really thinking about it.
22:25 - Yeah, I'm looking forward to that, yeah. - Brilliant.
22:29 Brian McClare, I'll be coming to the Apex in Bury St Edmunds for an audience with Manchester United Legends on September the 5th.
22:35 Brian, thank you so much for coming on, and I've really, really loved this, and, you know, I can't wait to see you on the night.
22:42 - Well, thank you very much for inviting me on, I've enjoyed chatting to you,
22:46 and yes, if you're, if we all manage to turn up on the end of the night, I've not missed one so far,
22:52 so despite the various different traffic, travel problems, I suppose, as you travel through these different things.
22:59 I like to get the train a lot, Kevin, you see, so if there's no trains,
23:03 I have to find an alternative way of getting there, you know, but probably be driving down.
23:09 So, yeah, no, I'll be there. You might see me, I like that kind of thing,
23:14 you might see me standing right outside that glass window there, just peeping in, just looking in to see who the next one you've got on here.
23:22 - But if you do, if you do, pop on in, pop on in, it'll be great to see you.
23:25 - I'll just be standing at the door, looking in. - Brilliant, thank you so much.
23:32 Thank you, sir. Have a good day.