Paul Scholes Retires

Paul Scholes has retired from playing

As predicted in an earlier blog of mine, Paul Scholes officially announced his retirement on the 31st May 2011 with immediate effect to take up a coaching role at Manchester United next season.

Scholes will forever be regarded by the Old Trafford faithful as a legend and he is arguably one of the greatest players the Premier League has seen. Thierry Henry has previously said, "Without any doubt the best player in the Premiership has to be Scholes... He knows how to do everything."

In February of this year, one of the current best players in the world, Barcelona midfielder Xavi rated Scholes as the best player in his position in the past two decades. stating "A role model. For me, and I really mean this, he's the best central midfielder I've seen in the last 15, 20 years. He's spectacular, he has it all, the last pass, goals, he's strong, he doesn't lose the ball, vision. If he'd been Spanish he might have been rated more highly. Players love him."

Schole's passing, movement, technique and ability to strike a ball cleanly was second to none but he unfortunately gained a lot of criticism for his tackling. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was quoted as saying that Scholes had a darker side to him and that he was not a fair player - this I feel is an unfair comment. I don't think he has a dark side to him at all, he is a family man who stayed out of the limelight and gave it 110% on the pitch. Yes he made some bad tackles during his career but the majority of them were mis-timed - remember that Scholes had paid the price for his tackling previously when he missed the 1999 European Champions League final because of suspension. It was just part of his game.

I'm sure that Paul Scholes will be looked upon in years time as a role model to aspiring professionals not only for his playing skills but also for the way he conducted himself off of the pitch. As previously stated he is a family man and is famously quoted as saying that his ideal day is  "Train in the morning, pick up my children from school, play with them, have tea, put them to bed and then watch a bit of TV." A lot of the current crop of Premier League stars could take a leaf out of Scholes' book on this front!

Paul Scholes Playing Statistics

Premier League Appearances for Man Utd: 466

Premier League Appearances: 102

Total Games All Competitions for Man Utd: 676

Total Goals All Competitions for Man Utd: 150

Total Games for England: 66

Total Goals for England: 14

Premier League Winner: 10 times

FA Cup Winner: 3 times

League Cup: 2 times

Community Shield : 5 times

UEFA Champions League - 2 times

Intercontinental Cup - 1 time

FIFA Club World Club - 1 time

Premier League Player of the Month - 3 times

PFA Premier League Team of the Year - 3 times

English Football League Hall of Fame - Inducted 2008

We wish Paul Scholes all of the best for his future coaching career at Manchester United. 

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