Brian McClair: 'We won't produce a group like Beckham, Butt and Scholes again'

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“When Wenger first arrived he was a picture of composure. Now he resembles Basil Fawlty on the sidelines.”
Published 5/10/2008 by Arthur Antunes Coimbra at 101 Great Goals - latest football videos and international soccer goals from the Premier League, Champions League, La liga, Serie A, World Cup, UEFA Cup & more
... The Independent’s Sam Wallace interviews the head of Manchester United’s academy, Brian McClair. “In 1995, the first team was world-class, but we weren’t competing at the level they are now… That summer Andrei [Kanchelskis] left, Incey [Paul Ince] left, Sparky [Mark Hughes] left and Paul Parker was dithering over a new contract. He dithered and suddenly Gary [Neville] had taken his place in the United and England team. How good were these boys? Nobody knew. We had played with them in the reserves, and they looked good enough. They ...

Grant talks nonsense, Excellent Brian McClair interview, SAF on Bolton
Published 5/10/2008 by Red Ranter at Red Rants
... Finally, the Independent has run a very good interview of Brian McClair. It’s an excellent read because he talks about our youth system as well as that of England and why we haven’t really been able to repeat the Scholes, Butts and Nevilles at our academy. ...

Brian McClair: 'We won't produce a group like Beckham, Butt and Scholes again'
Published 5/17/2008 at The Far Post Report
As a player Brian McClair watched a golden generation of young Red Devils make their names. Now head of Manchester United's academy, he tells Sam Wallace why he is struggling to develop similar English talent... "I'm not sure I would have been out in the pouring rain kicking a ball all the time if I had a Nintendo Wii at home. It's a natural thing." Click here to read more

Youth Development in England
Published 5/20/2008 by Tom Dunmore at Pitch Invasion
... Brian McClair, head of United’s academy, places the blame squarely on the shoulders of the system as well. He recently explained to the Independent that “United were very good at getting all the local boys and they got out-of-town boys to come on their holidays. If you look at that group of players who won the 1992 FA Youth Cup for United, nearly every single one of them played at the highest level because they were the best from Northern Ireland, they were the best from Wales, the best from England, the best from Scotland. You can’t compare anything to the ...

Is Manchester United’s Youth System Redundant?
Published 28 days ago by Penguin at Red Rants
... If you want chapter and verse on this, you need to read this fascinating interview with Brian McClair which RR linked to a while back. I really can’t recommend highly enough that you read the whole thing, but for the purposes of this article (and since I can’t improve the journalism there) I’m going to quote three passages from it: ...