United Debut: v. St Johnstone (A) 1-1 17/8/91.
Signed From: Rangers Amateur Boys Club 20/6/89.
Transferred to: Reading £150,000 25/3/99.
McLaren broke into the first team during the 1991/92 season and went on to play a further 16 times that season. During Jim McLean's last season as manager in 1992/93 McLaren only appeared 6 times, but he became more of a first team regular after the arrival of Ivan Golac. Playing 36 times during the 1993/94 season, McLaren was heavily involved in United's first ever Scottish Cup success, having one of his best ever games in the final itself. McLaren was in and out of the first team as United were relegated in 1994/95, but was rarely out of the starting eleven over the next 3 seasons as United won promotion, went on to finish 3rd in the Premier and competed in European competition again. After the arrival of Paul Sturrock, McLaren fell out of favour and was transferred to Reading. After much publicised personal problems, McLaren spent 3 years with Kilmarnock before returning to United in 2003, but after a good start, he failed to hold down a first team spot and was released at the end of the 2004/05 season.
Scottish Cup Winner 1994
4 Appearances 1 Goal
| League | Scot Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
| App. | Gls. | App. | Gls. | App. | Gls. | App. | Gls. | App. | Gls. | |
| 1991-92 | 13 | - | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | 16 | 0 |
| 1992-93 | 5 | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 6 | 0 |
| 1993-94 | 27 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | - | 36 | 4 |
| 1994-95 | 19 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 2 | - | 22 | 0 |
| 1995-96 | 34 | 3 | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 36 | 3 |
| 1996-97 | 34 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | 41 | 5 |
| 1997-98 | 27 | 4 | 3 | - | 4 | - | 4 | 2 | 38 | 6 |
| 1998-99 | 8 | - | 3 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 12 | 0 |
| ---- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2003-04 | 30 | 4 | 1 | - | 2 | 1 | - | - | 33 | 5 |
| 2004-05 | 6 | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 8 | 0 |
|
Total
|
203 | 16 | 18 | 3 | 20 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 248 | 23 |
