Apologises for another thread on Paul but there's little else to discuss now the season is over plus, it's a nice read. From The Guardian:
Manchester United's Paul Scholes is a true great. The rest is bull
The midfielder won't win any awards and won't go to the World Cup, but he has proved his worth this season
The strange thing is that Paul Scholes has never had much of a look-in when the player of the year awards have been decided, even when he was that bit younger and quicker. The little ginger doyen of the Manchester United midfield has never had to fix a bow tie and mumble a few lines of acceptance. But then, you know it's the last thing Scholes would want when he could be at home in Saddleworth, playing with Arron, Alicia and Aiden and getting ready for training the following day.
A word that is often applied to Scholes is "shy". But how can a man who gives the impression he is on first-name terms with the ball in front of 75,000 people every other Saturday, with millions watching on television, be shy? Scholes is not shy. He just has his routine: pull on your boots, do your best, get in the car and go home. The rest, as Harvey Keitel's character said in Mean Streets, is bullshit.
Scholes is very much from the "the rest is bullshit" school. He doesn't do interviews. He doesn't walk red carpets. He doesn't have a flashy car with smoked-out windows. You won't see his autobiography in the megastore or a six-page spread in Hello! Scholes is a reminder of what footballers used to be like and what many of us wish they could be again.
A reluctant hero, however, is still a hero. Ask Wayne Rooney, who is accumulating all this season's individual trophies, to name his favourite player and without hesitation he will say Scholes. Sir Alex Ferguson regards the midfielder as "one of the best football brains Manchester United have ever had". Edgar Davids: "We can all learn from Paul Scholes." Marcello Lippi: "Scholes would have been one of my first choices for putting together a great team." Zinedine Zidane: "My toughest opponent? Scholes." All this when Scholes, bless him, still has trouble differentiating between a fair tackle and a pub-side hack.
One day last week Ferguson was asked why Michael Carrick could not get in the United team. "What can I do?" he replied, his eyes wide, his arms outstretched. "What are you saying? Drop Scholes?" His voice probably demanded an exclamation mark as well.
A couple of weekends before the blood in the veins of United's supporters had been turned to wine with a goal out of nowhere against Manchester City, 17 seconds from the end of stoppage time. It was classic Scholes: the elusive little run, a twisting header, a yelp of joy and, finally, that familiar smile and punch of the air.
Last week, against Tottenham Hotspur, he was the outstanding player again. Opta statistics show that only Chelsea's Mikel John Obi has a better pass percentage rate. Of Scholes's 1,497 passes this season, 89.58% have reached their target. He was the Premier League's most accurate passer last season (90.69%) and its third in 2007-08 (89.7%).
Scholes's colleagues speak of him in almost disbelieving tones. "He'll do ridiculous things in training," Rio Ferdinand says. "He'll say: 'You see that tree over there?' – it'll be 40 yards away – 'I'm going to hit it.' And he'll do it."
Or another target will be identified. "Gary Neville was having a piss one day, 45 yards away, by a fence," Ferguson remembers. "Scholes whacked him right in the arse."
Scholes's form has brought suggestions that Fabio Capello might make one last attempt to coax him back into the England squad. Scholes retired from international football at 29, when he had much more to give. "It's a shame he didn't play for England more," Steve Bruce, Sunderland's manager, said of his old team-mate before Sunday's game at the Stadium of Light. "In the last two decades Scholes is arguably as good as you get in the Premier League."
But Capello has decided to leave it and you get the feeling Scholes doesn't care what the media – or anyone outside of Old Trafford – thinks. He had stopped enjoying going away with England. Yes, there is a World Cup looming, but Scholes has just signed a one-year contract and – in his mind, at least – stepping away from England is one of the reasons why he is still going strong at the age of 35.
Capello has tried to talk him round. It was a short conversation. Now, one of the Italian's colleagues points out that the "Scholes for England" issue never gets raised when the player has not done so well. And there have been a few games this season when Scholes has fallen below the levels he sets himself. That level, however, is one to which most footballers can only aspire.
"People say he is a great player, but you have to define what a great player is," says Peter Schmeichel, the former United goalkeeper. "For me, it is a player who has a bottom level that means his worst performance is not noticed. If he is having a bad game, a team-mate might feel Paul Scholes is not quite on his game, but a spectator wouldn't notice. Scholes, of all the players I have played with, has the highest bottom level."
Manchester United's Paul Scholes is a true great. The rest is bull
The midfielder won't win any awards and won't go to the World Cup, but he has proved his worth this season
The strange thing is that Paul Scholes has never had much of a look-in when the player of the year awards have been decided, even when he was that bit younger and quicker. The little ginger doyen of the Manchester United midfield has never had to fix a bow tie and mumble a few lines of acceptance. But then, you know it's the last thing Scholes would want when he could be at home in Saddleworth, playing with Arron, Alicia and Aiden and getting ready for training the following day.
A word that is often applied to Scholes is "shy". But how can a man who gives the impression he is on first-name terms with the ball in front of 75,000 people every other Saturday, with millions watching on television, be shy? Scholes is not shy. He just has his routine: pull on your boots, do your best, get in the car and go home. The rest, as Harvey Keitel's character said in Mean Streets, is bullshit.
Scholes is very much from the "the rest is bullshit" school. He doesn't do interviews. He doesn't walk red carpets. He doesn't have a flashy car with smoked-out windows. You won't see his autobiography in the megastore or a six-page spread in Hello! Scholes is a reminder of what footballers used to be like and what many of us wish they could be again.
A reluctant hero, however, is still a hero. Ask Wayne Rooney, who is accumulating all this season's individual trophies, to name his favourite player and without hesitation he will say Scholes. Sir Alex Ferguson regards the midfielder as "one of the best football brains Manchester United have ever had". Edgar Davids: "We can all learn from Paul Scholes." Marcello Lippi: "Scholes would have been one of my first choices for putting together a great team." Zinedine Zidane: "My toughest opponent? Scholes." All this when Scholes, bless him, still has trouble differentiating between a fair tackle and a pub-side hack.
One day last week Ferguson was asked why Michael Carrick could not get in the United team. "What can I do?" he replied, his eyes wide, his arms outstretched. "What are you saying? Drop Scholes?" His voice probably demanded an exclamation mark as well.
A couple of weekends before the blood in the veins of United's supporters had been turned to wine with a goal out of nowhere against Manchester City, 17 seconds from the end of stoppage time. It was classic Scholes: the elusive little run, a twisting header, a yelp of joy and, finally, that familiar smile and punch of the air.
Last week, against Tottenham Hotspur, he was the outstanding player again. Opta statistics show that only Chelsea's Mikel John Obi has a better pass percentage rate. Of Scholes's 1,497 passes this season, 89.58% have reached their target. He was the Premier League's most accurate passer last season (90.69%) and its third in 2007-08 (89.7%).
Scholes's colleagues speak of him in almost disbelieving tones. "He'll do ridiculous things in training," Rio Ferdinand says. "He'll say: 'You see that tree over there?' – it'll be 40 yards away – 'I'm going to hit it.' And he'll do it."
Or another target will be identified. "Gary Neville was having a piss one day, 45 yards away, by a fence," Ferguson remembers. "Scholes whacked him right in the arse."
Scholes's form has brought suggestions that Fabio Capello might make one last attempt to coax him back into the England squad. Scholes retired from international football at 29, when he had much more to give. "It's a shame he didn't play for England more," Steve Bruce, Sunderland's manager, said of his old team-mate before Sunday's game at the Stadium of Light. "In the last two decades Scholes is arguably as good as you get in the Premier League."
But Capello has decided to leave it and you get the feeling Scholes doesn't care what the media – or anyone outside of Old Trafford – thinks. He had stopped enjoying going away with England. Yes, there is a World Cup looming, but Scholes has just signed a one-year contract and – in his mind, at least – stepping away from England is one of the reasons why he is still going strong at the age of 35.
Capello has tried to talk him round. It was a short conversation. Now, one of the Italian's colleagues points out that the "Scholes for England" issue never gets raised when the player has not done so well. And there have been a few games this season when Scholes has fallen below the levels he sets himself. That level, however, is one to which most footballers can only aspire.
"People say he is a great player, but you have to define what a great player is," says Peter Schmeichel, the former United goalkeeper. "For me, it is a player who has a bottom level that means his worst performance is not noticed. If he is having a bad game, a team-mate might feel Paul Scholes is not quite on his game, but a spectator wouldn't notice. Scholes, of all the players I have played with, has the highest bottom level."
Should spend more time with the fans Pete.