Monday 13 May 2013

Scholes happy to avoid limelight after hanging up his boots for a second time

Paul Scholes is happy for his retirement to slip under the radar on the day when Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson also bade farewell to Old Trafford.

United midfielder Scholes announced his retirement for a second time yesterday, having resumed his career in January 2012 after initially quitting the game at the end of the 2010-11 season.

He is notoriously media-shy and he joked that the news surrounding Ferguson's retirement after more than 26 years in charge at United - plus continued speculation about Wayne Rooney's future, had given him the opportunity to slip away quietly.

'It couldn't be any better could it?' Scholes said.

'(The speculation of) Wayne Rooney asking for a transfer - there's not much else that can go well for me.

'Yeah, it's the perfect weekend for me. (My) last game and I will just slip under the radar and off I go.'

The 38-year-old made 717th Manchester United appearance against Swansea today after making his debut on September 21, 1994 in a League Cup game against Port Vale. Scholes revealed there will be no changing his mind about retirement this time.

'I think this is it. I'm sure this is it,' Scholes told Sky Sports.

'It's probably not the season I would have liked to go out on but the last four months have been quite difficult with injury, with my knee and trying to get back fit again.

'I'm totally convinced. I was convinced last time to be honest with you. At the time you are but I know now in my head that I have gone as far as I possibly can physically.

'This is the end. Again.'

Scholes has made only a handful of appearances this year after he suffered a knee injury in January.

He has won 11 Premier League titles, three FA Cups, two League Cups, five Community Shields and two Champions League titles with the club.

Scholes is unsure what the future holds for him, following Ferguson's departure from Old Trafford.

'The manager wanted me to be on the coaching side but it's going to be a different manager,' he said.

'I don't know what the new manager will want.

'But yeah, I would like to be in charge of my own team and in charge of my own players and try and make a team play the way I like football to be played.'

United beat Swansea thanks to a late Rio Ferdinand goal after Michu had cancelled out Javier Hernandez's opener.

Scholes played just over an hour against before he was replaced by Anderson.

'It's been a good day. We won the game and that's all that matters. We've picked the trophy up and we'll celebrate tonight,' he said afterwards.

'I haven't played for four or five months so it was just nice to get through the game and win it.

'I thought it went quite well. You thought it would have been quite emotional for him (Ferguson) but he spoke well at the end of the game and he has done a fantastic job here, that goes without saying.

'He's just happy now and is looking forward to what the team are going to do next year and hopefully we can go on from here and win more trophies.'

Here, Sportsmail assesses how he performed:

PASSING: There is no-one who has the combination of Scholes' passing range and accuracy. He always seems to have an extra half second to decide what he wants to do. And despite not playing since January, still did.

SHOOTING: No piledrivers today but did break into the box on one occasion in the first-half but couldn't get any power into his attempt to turn home Javier Hernandez's pass.

CONTROL: He will still be able to control a football in 40 years' time. Is one of the features of his game. One moment when he lifted the ball away from an on-rushing midfielder and continued on his way was genius.

TACKLING: Scholes' wild tackles are the stuff of legend. He couldn't resist an early one on Wayne Routledge either, although on this occasion, the midfielder managed to get the ball.

FITNESS: Not the best after so long out. Kept going but largely patrolled a small area around the centre circle, keeping movement to a minimum. Couple of short bursts but appeared to have run out of steam by the time he was replaced by Anderson midway through the second-half.


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