For those who have just landed from the moon, Manchester United legend Paul Aaron Scholes has decided to hang his boots after being involved in professional football for around 2 decades. He will however take up a coaching role with the club.
A member of the famous Class of ’92, Scholes made a staggering 676 (4th highest for Manchester United, behind Sir Bobby Charlton, Ryan Giggs and Bill Foulkes) appearances for the club that he joined at a tender age of 14. A humble man, Scholes allowed his feet to do the talking throughout the 20 year long career.
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“I am not a man of many words but I can honestly say that playing football is all I have ever wanted to do.”, were the parting words of the player who spent his entire career playing for Manchester United.
David Beckham, in his autobiography defined Scholes as a private person.
“He’s so private that the other lads are always giving him grief about it. The rumor is that he turns off his cell phone straight after training and doesn’t turn it on again until he’s five minutes from Carrington the next morning. And as for his home number, he’s given it out to so few people down the years he’s probably forgotten what it is himself. Scholesy’s always just kept his head down and got on with soccer.”
Scholes in 1999
Born and bred in Manchester, Scholes’ youth career began in 1991. He wasn’t a part of the youth team that won the FA Youth Cup in 1992 but was a part of the team that ended up as runners up in the subsequent year. Scholes signed his first professional contract in 1993 and made his first team debut against Port Vale in the League Cup in 1994. He scored twice on debut (the only other player I remember to score twice on debut: Sir Bobby Charlton) as United won the match 2-1. A goal in his league debut against Ipswich Town 3 days later couldn’t save United from losing the match 3-2. A vital member of the 1999 treble winning team, Scholes scored one of the two United goals in the FA Cup final. He, along with Roy Keane, had to sit out of the UEFA Champions League final in 1999 due to suspension. Describing the experience of sitting out in the “most important match of a player’s career”, Scholes said “I felt pretty useless. It’s astonishing how out of things you feel when you’re not playing. It’s as if a glass partition descends between you and the players in the side and you are on the wrong side of the divide. No matter how much people try to act sympathetically towards you, you remain outside – utterly redundant.”
Scholes vs. City in 2010
In 2002-03 season, Scholes netted the ball a career-high 20 times as United ended up winning the title for the eighth time in eleven years. His goal against Barcelona in the semifinal of 2008 Champions League paved the way for United to go on and win the title. The 93rd minute header against rivals Manchester City on April 17, 2010 still haunts the City supporters. He began the 2010-11 season strongly, only to miss out on a few matches after aggravating a knee injury. He still managed to make 32 appearances in all competitions (22 starts), scoring once in a 2-2 draw against Fulham.
66 matches for England
On International level, Scholes made 66 appearances for England, scoring 14 goals. Making his international debut in 1997 in a friendly against South Africa, Scholes went on to represent England in the 1998 and 2002 World Cup along with Euro 2000 and 2004. Scholes retired from International football in August 2004 after falling out of favor under Sven-Goran Eriksson’s era as England manager. George Best reacted to this by saying, “England have lost their best player.” Eriksson parted ways with England in 2006, opening the gates for a possible return from retirement for Paul Scholes. Capello approached Scholes about a return to international football in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup campaign. However, Scholes rejected the offer. He was inducted in the English Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
Enough with the stats and numbers; there is a lot more that Paul Scholes has contributed to his country, his club and to football in general.
with the trophy in 2008
In an age when footballers and their money-grabbing agents all over the world believe in robbing the club to the last penny with multi million pound contracts, you will be surprised to know that Paul Scholes never had an agent throughout his playing career.Far away from the glamor of fashion magazines, the red carpets, Scholes preferred to follow his self lain routine of “Train in the morning, pick up the kids from school, play with them, have tea, get them to bed and then watch a bit of TV.” As Roy Keane said, “No celebrity bullshit, no self promotion – an amazingly gifted player who remained an unaffected human being”, Scholes is a reminder of what footballers used to be.
“I’ve never been conscious of losing out on big money because of the way I’ve wanted to live my life. I’ve turned down big commercials because I’m shy. It’s just the way I’ve been. I did get a boot contract once. But no, I haven’t earned much outside the game. Maybe it’s because I’m not good looking enough.” – Paul Scholes
A person who feels uncomfortable at a social gathering, Scholes finds his solace on a rectangular piece of grass, surrounded by a group of like-minded people. On the pitch, he is an exact contrast to what he is off it. Sir Alex recalls a particular incident that shows his jovial nature on the ground. “Gary Neville was having a piss one day, 45 yards away, by a fence. Scholes whacked him right in the arse.”
A few medical conditions hampered his playing career at United. Scholes is an asthmatic and has to rely on medications before and during the game. Scholes complained of having “blurred vision” after a game against Birmingham in the 2005-06 season. The cause of his condition was unclear in the beginning and sparked fears that it could end his playing career. However, it was later confirmed that Scholes was experiencing double vision in his right eye after suffering a blow to the head in the match against Birmingham City.
Scholes has never been the insecure one, the one to envy his teammate’s success and in one of the rare interviews in 2008 (the time when Anderson was regarded as a potential Scholes replacement), Scholes said “There was always going to be a time when someone came in who’s young and sprightly, with a lot of ability and will keep you out of the team. I know there probably isn’t that much time left, so you have to try to enjoy it as much as you can, coming to training, playing games. I hope it’s a long time away. I just want to concentrate on playing for as long as possible.”
Not the best of tacklers
Scholes had to change his playing position in the team from time to time. Starting his career as a second striker, partnering Eric Cantona whilst Dwight Yorke was injured, Scholes shifted to the ‘hole’, the tricky position narrowing the gap between the striker and the midfielder. With age, Scholes shifted to the center of midfield, dominating possession and controlling the game from there by sending pin-point passes, along with a few long balls for the wingers to chase. His partnership with Chicharito throughout the season, where the veteran would send a long ball for the young Mexican to beat the offside trap and control the ball and shoot, was a treat to watch. A disciplinary record of 141 Yellow and 9 Red at the club level along with 12 Yellow and 1 Red for England (he is the only English player to be sent off at Wembley) shows that Scholes has never been a man to shy away from sending in a tackle or two.
In perhaps the cutest of love stories, Scholes married his childhood sweetheart, Claire in February 1999. The couple is blessed with three children, Arron, Alicia and Aiden. In 2009, it was rumored that Scholes threw a 100,000 wedding to mark his tenth wedding anniversary. The player renewed his wedding vows with Claire in a celebration where ice sculptures and champagne fountains welcomed the guests.
In a career spanning 2 decades, Scholes won 10 Premier League titles, three FA Cups, two League Cups and two Champions League winners’ medals with United.
To sum it up, Sir Bobby Charlton’s words cover it all:
“I have no hesitation in putting a name to the embodiment of all that I think is best about football. It’s Paul Scholes. Many great players have worn the shirt of Manchester United. Players I worshipped, then lost with my youth in Munich. Players like Denis Law and George Best who I enjoyed so much as team-mates and now, finally, players I have watched closely in the Alex Ferguson era. And in so many ways Scholes is my favourite. I love his nous and conviction that he will find a way to win, to make the killer pass or produce the decisive volley. When a game reaches a vital phase, these qualities seem to come out of his every pore. He’s always on the ball, always turning on goal. He’s always looking to bring other people into the action and if he loses possession you think he must be ill.”
Video Courtesy:Aditya_Reds
