Despite playing almost 500 times for Manchester United across 11 seasons, Brian McClair places himself among those "lucky" players Alex Ferguson kept an eye out for.
Four Premier League titles, three FA Cups, a League Cup and a Cup Winners Cup medal from 1991, the Scottish man remains something of a lost figure in the miasma of United legends that brought Ferguson his initial successes with the club.
Having joined from Celtic in 1987, 'Choccy' became the first United player since George Best to score more than 20 league goals in a season; Best's tally reaching back two decades earlier than that.
Discussions regarding that United team of the early 1990s of which McClair would become a consistent figure often refer to the group's collective, and individual character.
With the likes of Peter Schmeichel, Gary Pallister, Steve Bruce, Denis Irwin, Roy Keane, Eric Cantona, Mark Hughes ... well, you get the picture.
As McClair informed The Telegraph, this was no fluke on the manager's part:
Ferguson never swayed from what he was trying to do, he just needed the time to do it. And he was given the time.
He made decisions. Weekly when he was picking the team and he made decisions about all sorts of stuff, players staying and players going, and the huge majority he got right.
Strength of character wasn't the only thing Ferguson sought in his players however. According to McClair, being "lucky" was a huge, if difficult to identify, part of it also:
And the other thing about him: he's a lucky bastard. His brother-in-law told me if he fell into the Clyde he's come out with a salmon in either pocket.
I think that he signed players who he thought were lucky.
Citing himself as an example of this, McClair alludes to the success he has had every where his career has taken him; "Villa won the league, Motherwell won the first division, Celtic won the league and the cup."
A man who became an incredibly important part of United's youth system when his playing career ended in 1998, McClair has also gone on to work within the Scottish international set up.
