Jesus Christ, why so confrontational? I never said I thought less of Young, it's just an aspect of his game I wish we'd see less of. In fact, it's an aspect of the game itself that I'd wish to see less of.
I wouldn't think less of Scholes either, but I certainly don't want to win by cheating. If we win as a direct result of one of our players taking a dive, or punching a ball into the net, it would certainly ruin the win for me. I don't want us to win like that.
You can't even begin to compare diving to going in hard on a player. Sir Alex told the Nevilles to go in hard on Reyes, in order to throw him off his game. He did not tell them to kick him about or rough him up. Playing cynically and deliberately fouling high up the pitch to prevent the opposition from getting into dangerous areas is a legitimate tactic, and doesn't involve trying to deceive the ref. Players are often carded for persistent fouling. So no, I was neither ashamed, nor did (or do) I consider deliberate fouling to be cheating.
The fact that thousands of others does it just goes to show how big the problem is. The fact that others do it is also a pretty shite defense of what is, by every definition, cheating. And I'm not singling him out, I'll criticize any United player that does it. Young just happens to be one of Uniteds worst offenders, so he gets called out more often than others. And I couldn't care less how other teams or players go about it, I just know how I'd like to see US go about it.
Criticizing Young for simulating does not prevent me from thinking he's been one of our better performers under van Gaal, the two are not mutually exclusive.