He was a very good player in his pomp with Hughes and co. played on too long though, for me his Utd career was in two parts, the first bit which he was excellent, and the last 3 years or so where he was a bang average to poor midfielder, for me though this was where SAF was at fault.
Brian McClair (well just before) was my Utd era, when I first came into watching football (from about 8 years old on, I was around 12 when we won the cup winners cup), I remember liking and rating him as a player all through the first part of his Utd career, but he was never my favourite player, there were other flashier players to catch the eye, I also remember resenting his presence in the midfield as being uninspiring and like a shadow of his former self, unlike Scholes, Carrick and others who managed to drop deeper as they aged and reinvent their game, McClair didn't for me, not slating the guy, he was a player from my golden era and I will always remember him fondly, but I would rather give an honest opinion that look back through rose tinted glasses.