Paul Scholes joined an elite band of players to make 600 Reds
appearances when he ran out against Portsmouth. Here, Sir Alex pays
tribute to the mercurial midfielder…
Playing 600 games is quite an achievement, are you surprised by
his longevity?
It’s fantastic, considering Scholesy’s probably had three or four
longish term injuries during his career. He had the eye problem,
he’s had two knee operations that kept him out for three months at
a time, so he’s probably missed over a year of football in that
time. He would probably be closer to 700 now had he not had those
injuries.
Last summer Scholes said he would play for another two years and
then call it a day. Do you see him sticking to that or carrying
on?
Paul usually says what he means, there’s no question about that. He
means what he says. He’s an amazing man.
He’s said he likes playing football but hates being a footballer
because of the attention that comes with it…
Absolutely, it’s agony trying to get him to the press conferences
for UEFA matches!
Is he a one-off in that respect?
No, quite a few players don’t enjoy the press. Some do it
grudgingly and can cope with it. Others enjoy it, of course, and
some are very professional, particularly European players – it’s
like a duck to water for them, they are quite accessible that way.
But I don’t think Scholesy’s so different from everyone, I think
there are quite a few who don’t enjoy that part of it. They see
themselves as footballers and like to go home when they finish
training.
Could you perhaps persuade him one day to be captain, just for
one game?
He’s been captain. He didn’t like it and I think we lost
actually.
Where will he stand in the list of all-time United legends when
he does retire?
If you go back to the Bests, Edwards, Charltons and Laws, then
you’re talking about quite a wide panorama of players. But in my
time, he’d been in the top six or seven players, without question,
for his contribution and his quality, and some of the fantastic
goals he’s scored. Even on Sunday, the first touch he took was
better than anyone else’s had been in the whole of the previous
hour. He’s got that wonderful velvet touch on the ball, it goes
stone dead when he gets it. In the midst of all the mayhem that can
happen in football matches, it’s wonderful to see that.
Presumably there have been a number of enquiries from all the
big clubs across Europe for Paul at some stage?
Funnily enough we’ve never had one enquiry for Paul Scholes. You
know why? Because they all know he would never leave.
Sir Alex was speaking at a press conference this week.
United’s 600+ Club
Ryan Giggs – 798 appearances
Sir Bobby Charlton – 758
Bill Foulkes – 688
Paul Scholes – 600
