Football stories | Paul Scholes

Paul Scholes was a one-club man, proving his loyalty to his favourite Manchester United during his entire magnificent career. He was one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the world. Scholes was known for his great long passing abilities, combined with his good technique with the ball in his feet and a powerful shot. In addition, Scholes’ movement on the pitch was really clever. He had a great vision for the game and could play on every single position in midfield. Despite he is only 168 cm. tall, Scholes was also good in the air, scoring lots of goals with his head. In his early years at Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson used him in a more attacking position, but later the manager found Scholes’ good defensive skills and put the midfielder in another position on the pitch.

To begin with, Paul Scholes was born on 16th November 1974 in Salford. He is an asthmatic and suffered from the Osgood-Schlatter disease, which is characterized by a painful bump below the knee. And even though he had such problems, nothing could stop Paul Scholes achieve such great things in football. The midfielder signed his first professional contract on 23rd July 1993 – 5 years after he arrived at the academy of Manchester United. And since then, Paul Scholes has become one of the most successful players in the history of the club. The midfielder has won The Premier League on 11 occasions, The FA Cup three times, The English Football League Cup twice, The Champions League twice, The Intercontinental Cup and The FIFA World Club Cup once.

Paul Scholes made his debut for The Three Lions in 1997 and recorded 14 goals in 66 matches, before retiring from international football in 2004. Even though he decided to focus only on his club at the age of 29, he had his great moments with the England’s national football team. Scholes bagged a goal at The World Cup 1998 against Tunisia, securing the 3 points for his team. Another important moment from his international career is the hat-trick against Poland in UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying match. In the same qualifying campaign, Scholes found the net twice against Scotland in the playoffs and sent his nation into the finals.

The midfielder has always been a quiet person and he prefers talking on the pitch! He is described by his colleagues as the best midfielder ever. To continue with, even Cristiano Ronaldo once said that Scholes is the best player the Portuguese has played with. When asked what would be the perfect day for him, Scholes has responded: “… train in the morning, pick up my children from school, play with them, have tea and watch a bit of TV”.

After his retirement from professional football, Scholes helped Nicky Butt with the U19 team of The Red Devils. Then, Scholes helped his friend Ryan Giggs, when the Welshman became the temporary manager of Manchester United in 2014. Later in the same year, the former midfielder became a pundit, signing a contract with BT Sport. He has also become a columnist for The Independent.

So, behind this great midfielder, there is a great person, a good father and a good friend. I wish I could watch him again playing for Manchester United…