Brian McClair was just 19 years old when his football world spun on its axis within a fortnight.

McClair had scouts coveting his signature as a schoolboy footballer. He enjoyed a brief stint with Aston Villa before returning to Scotland in August 1981 to sign for Motherwell, while also enrolling in a computer maths degree course at Glasgow University.

It was former Rangers manager Jock Wallace who can take all the credit for converting McClair from a midfielder to a striker. In January 1983 'Choccy' - as he was affectionately known - was about to become a household name in Scottish football after bagging a hat-trick for the Steelmen in a 3-0 win over Rangers.  A double against Celtic in a 2-1 victory followed shortly thereafter.

McClair's goals helped Motherwell stave off relegation, and the player headed off to Mexico with Scotland under 19s with a spring in his step. On his arrival back home, he was told to phone Wallace who gruffly delivered the news that he had been sold for £75,000.

He was given one simple instruction: "Get your arse to Celtic Park!" 

Read more:

McClair said: "My football career was up and down since I was 16. I was at Aston Villa the year they won the English First Division, but I came home and signed for Motherwell part-time as I was also studying at Glasgow University.

"I was in the team Motherwell with Ally MacLeod and I was out of the team with Davie Hay - and then I was back in the team under him then Jock Wallace and Frank Connor took over, and it was kind of a rollercoaster for me in terms of my football career. 

"Jock Wallace came to me one evening and I asked if I could play as a forward. I usually played in midfield and I was bemused by it but I went along with it. I played in a Youth Cup tie at Kilbowie in Clydebank, which is no longer there, and I scored a hat-trick in a 4-3 defeat. I was thrown into the first team on Saturday playing as a striker.

"I never trained with the first team as a forward because I was part-time but I scored the winning goal that Saturday. From then on I had that incredible January where I scored a hat-trick against Rangers and a double against Celtic which changed my career significantly.

"I scored a winning goal at Cappielow and Motherwell got enough points to stay in the Premier Division that season. Things were going okay and I was getting my name in the paper and I was enjoying life."

"That summer I went away to Mexico with Scotland under 19s and when I came back I got told to phone Jock Wallace and he told me had sold me.

"Jock did not attempt to keep me at Motherwell or tell me I was a good player or anything like that. He just told me in no uncertain terms to head to Celtic Park as Big Billy (McNeill) was waiting for me."

McClair recalls how Lisbon Lion and club legend McNeill lorded over the top of him as he sat at the head of the table. A lesser player may have been overawed but not McClair. He puts it down to the impetuosity of youth.

He said: "I drove as fast as I could to Parkhead even though I had a proper banger of a car. It was a lime-green Morris Marina. I was still wondering what was going on as I drove up to the stadium but a guy called Jim Kennedy was waiting at the door to take me in to meet Billy McNeill.

"What I remember vividly about that is that he was sitting there behind a lovely big wooden table with a cracking big chair. He is a tall man anyway but the chair I was sitting in was distant from the table and a bit lower down.

"I saw it at Manchester United too when Sir Matt Busby sat round his desk and the coaches were sitting around the table their seats would be at a lower level than his. I remember thinking when I met Billy that I was talking to some kind of football deity as I was looking up and up at Billy.

"It was all a bit odd but I was naïve enough not to feel threatened by it. Lots of people might have felt isolated despite being in the same room as the Celtic manager at the time. I didn't."

(Image: SNS GROUP)

Read more:

McClair went on to enjoy four wonderful years at Celtic and he was the top goalscorer in every campaign he played for the club. In his four seasons with Celtic, McClair made 204 appearances in all competitions and scored 126 goals. He won the Scottish Cup in 1985 and the Scottish Premier Division in 1986 but many believe that was a scant silverware return for a player of his supreme talents.

Ironically, McClair never played for McNeill as he left to take up the managerial reins at Manchester City in the summer of 1983 but it was a familiar face who took up the cudgels in the shape of former Motherwell boss Davie Hay.

McClair was part of the Celtic side that snatched the Scottish Premier Division from Hearts on the last day of the season in a dramatic and thrilling climax as Hay's men famously triumphed 5-0 against St Mirren and the Jambos lost 2-0 to Dundee at Dens Park to agonisingly lose out on goal difference.

Celtic had to reel off eight wins on the spin to deny the Edinburgh men, but McClair insists that it was a 1-0 win at Pittodrie against Aberdeen in April courtesy of a Mo Johnston strike. However, McClair joked that 'Love Street 86' has entered Celtic folklore as every supporter he has ever met claims to have been present in Paisley on that fateful day.

McClair said: "I loved my time at Celtic. I loved every minute of my time there. I won the Scottish Premier Division and the Scottish Cup and I was the top scorer for the four seasons that I was with the club.

"The abiding and brilliant memory was Love Street '86 as so many people claim that they were there. The generation before mine would claim they were at Lisbon in 1967 or at Hampden Park for the European Cup semi-final against Leeds United in 1970.

"If all the Celtic supporters who claim to have been at Love Street and the ones that I have met down the years were there then there must have been a world record crowd in Paisley that day.

"I have been so spoiled with my football memories but winning the title with Celtic in 1986 is such a great memory for so many people.

"The most significant thing was that we knew we would need to win every game and hope that Hearts would stumble en route and we were matching each other stride for stride as we kept winning but so did Hearts.

"The turning point for me was when we beat Aberdeen at Pittodrie. Celtic found that a very difficult venue and we usually got pumped up there but we won 1-0.

"I felt then that we had a great chance of winning the title once we beat Aberdeen away. That was the game that changed everybody's demeanour at Celtic concerning winning the league. The players felt that we could do it then. Davie Hay was so laid back and all he said was we've won that one, let's try and win the next one.

"He just told us to go out and play our football and enjoy it. He told the players we had a good season regardless of what happened down the title stretch. It turned out to be a wonderful season."

McClair has many outstanding highlights with Celtic, not least of which was a four-goal haul in a 6-2 win over Dundee. He scored a sensational solo goal against Dundee United and bagged a beauty against Sporting Lisbon during an incredible 5-0 win over the Portuguese side in a UEFA cup tie at Celtic Park. McClair was no stranger to netting against his city rivals as well.

(Image: SNS Group)

However, two of McClair's best goals seem to have been expunged from memory. Despite netting against Rangers in two League Cup finals (1983 and 1986) he ended up on the losing side.

McClair volleyed home a superb rehearsed set-piece to reduce the arrears to 1-2 after Tommy Burns had sumptuously lifted the ball over the Rangers defence in the 1983 showpiece but Celtic would go on to lose 3-2. He also hammered a screamer into the top corner to make it 1-1 in the 1986 final only for Hay's side to succumb 2-1. Both goals still retain a worthy place in McClair's affections.

McClair said: "When you get to a certain time people ask you about certain things and those two goals that I scored at Hampden for Celtic in the league cup finals that we lost still mean a lot to me.

"I don't have a favourite goal as how can you pick one over another? When you look back even the losing finals when I scored were dramatic matches to be involved in.

"Those games against Rangers at Hampden Park are still special because at least you got there. I have played in losing cup finals in England too. I don't think I ever lost a semi-final I was involved in which is not a bad record and I am very proud of that."

As a striker, McClair was the real deal for Celtic. We'll always have Love Street '86.

Confession time, Choccy: I wasn't there!

Read Brian McClair's Premier League score predictions for each game week of the Premier League season on Gambling.com.