MANCHESTER UNITED legend Brian McClair has revealed all about the recent photo that saw him go viral.
The ex-forward was a big part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s first decade at Old Trafford, playing for them between 1987 and 1998 after arriving from Celtic.
He made well over 350 appearances during that time before heading to his Scottish homeland to finish his career with Motherwell.
The 59-year-old has since started coaching, with a brief stint as assistant manager at Blackburn followed by a return to United.
He was employed as the club’s youth academy director between 2006 and 2015 but these days he is enjoying great success with his Life of Brian podcast – which has just been named as the most popular sports podcast in Costa Rica.
However, that is not what he hit the headlines for over recent weeks, instead it was a visit to the boozer that had him trending.
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McClair was photographed in a Manchester pub named the Gold Cup, only he looked completely unrecognisable from his Premier League-winning heyday with long hair and a long grey beard.
Speaking to The Telegraph, he revealed: “It started in lockdown.
“I just thought: let things grow, see where we end up. Then before Christmas I decided to have a tidy up, but I never got round to it.
“I was out one night and next thing I see I’m trending on social media as ‘old man down the pub’.
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“I’ve had the trim since. You’ll be disappointed to hear I look a wee bit less as though I’ve been cast away on a desert island.”
McClair, who won 14 trophies, including four league titles, admits that was just “another bizarre thing in my life”.
He said: “I think I’m normal, others think I’m weird. I tend to notice bizarre things, bizarre things come out of my head.”
The Scot managed to avoid doing interviews throughout his 11-year stay at Old Trafford – but he still managed to wind-up team-mates and the media with his “Choccy’s Diary” in the matchday programme.
He added: “It was very rare when I was a player I got inspired by questions.
“The other players say they never got my sense of humour. I take that as an accolade.
“In the dressing room plenty of things I said were said to find things out about them. I was interested in what made them tick.”
McClair added: “I was always happy to start a debate. A lot of players want to win at that.
“I remember Gary Pallister in particular always wanted to get the last word.
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“I was giving him a lift home once. We were having a chat and I deliberately wouldn’t agree with him.
“When we got to his house, he jumped out the car, shouting at me, slamming the door and running off up his drive so I couldn’t respond. I laughed all the way home.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
