21 Aug 2020 09:40:06
Pele: "If he was playing with me, I would have scored so many more. "

Lionel Messi: "At La Masia his name was mentioned a lot. He's a teacher. "

Cristiano Ronaldo: "When we were in training, I used to do a lot of tricks which hardly any players at the club could do. Once I was showing my skills to Scholes. After I finished, Scholes took the ball and pointed to a tree which was about 50m from where we were standing. He said, I'm going to hit it in one shot. He kicked and hit the tree. He asked me to do the same; I kicked about 10 times, but still couldn't hit it, with that accuracy. He smiled and left. "

Zinedine Zidane: "My toughest opponent? Scholes of Manchester. He is the complete midfielder. "

Patrick Vieira: "The player in the Premiership I admire most? Easy - Scholes. "

Edgar Davids: "I'm not the best, Paul Scholes is. "

Xavi: "In the last 15 to 20 years the best central midfielder that I have seen, the most complete is Scholes. I have spoken with Xabi Alonso about this many times. Scholes is a spectacular player who has everything. "

Marcello Lippi: "Paul Scholes would have been one of my first choices for putting together a great team. "

Was having the usual debate with the lads about Scholes, Lampard and Gerrard. Obviously bias but for me Scholes was in a league of his own. Different players with different roles but my god how good was he? What would he be worth today?

I love the story about him coming out of retirement with no boots and just bobbing down to the local store to buy a pair. He then went on to run the game against City.

When people talk about our greatest ever player he has to be in the reckoning for me, never got caught on the ball and deceptively strong, he could score and create in equal measure.

Oh and I don't buy the business that he couldn't tackle! He knew exactly what he was doing when leaving a little on someone.


1.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 09:56:46
Amazing how things can get changed in your brain, Scholes came on at 3-0 up in the game with the boots and we won 3-2 if I’m not mistaken!

I agree with the rest of your analysis though and find it strange that other teams rate him so low just because the teams he played in were amazing seemingly not realising that every team he played in was so good because he was in it.


2.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 10:04:53
Scholes is my favourite player ever; I just loved watching him play. Just the way he knew what he was going to do with the ball before he received it and the way he pinged it about was a joy to watch.

The debate about Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes is a joke. The other two were nowhere near as good.


3.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 10:05:30
GDS nothing got changed mate. I remember the game well, I just love the story that goes with it.

He truly was exceptionally gifted.


4.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 10:13:39
Great post. What a player. Criminally misused by a succession of England managers. And you’re spot on about his tackling - the genius was how he got away with it so often!


5.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 10:14:19
MancMan he was a joy to watch I agree.

I also agree Scholes was the better of the 3 but they each had different roles in the team. I hate scouse with a passion but Gerrard was some player too. A physical powerhouse with some engine. None had Scholes' footballing IQ though, incredible player.


6.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 10:37:08
SaF - totally agree especially tackling - so clever he knew what he was doing to break up the play.
Incredible talent and work rate- even more impressive if true was that he suffered from asthma.


7.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 11:23:07
Simply put a player like Scholes would be priceless now. I don’t see a midfielder with his ability to control games, dictate the tempo on such a regular basis anywhere in Europe. We had a truly special player, it’s a shame then it’s when he’s retired we realise just how good he was. I remember him coming on 2-1 down against Southampton and creating about 3 chances for rvp in 5 minutes.


8.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 11:49:47
Fantastic player. Would love to see him come back to the club in a coaching capacity. To be fair, he’s pretty useless as a pundit, so coaching might be right up his street.


9.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 13:57:44
The French media loved him back in the day, they would always debate over whether he or Zidane was best. They also felt he got much more credit outside of England.


10.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 14:41:43
World class. Simple.


11.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 15:14:44
Gerrard more goals, more left foot goals, more headed goals, more free kicks scored than Scholes, more assists, more tackles than Scholes, better % of tackles won, less fouls, less yellow cards, more 50/ 50s won by a street than Scholes. (According to Premierleague. com)

I could go on but I'm sure you get the drift.


12.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 15:28:17
Fantastic footballer and lots of people would probably say Zidane is a much better footballer than Scholes although I tend to disagree.

Ed001 you commented a lot on Zidane as a manager i've never read anything from you with regards to Zidane as a footballer, how good was he to you?

{Ed001's Note - he was a fantastic player, but he was very much about looking good first. He was all too much flash for little actual effect for my taste, though Juve worked hard on trying to sort that aspect of his game out. Very much a galactico type of player, unlike Scholes who was the complete opposite.

By the way, those quotes are pointless at the beginning. Pele also called Butt a world class player and Zidane called Gerrard the best player in the world. They are meaningless soundbites from people who just have to say nice things for the cameras. Scholes was a fantastic player, but quotes from fellow pros are never going to give a full picture.}


13.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 15:34:20
Doesn't tell a story though does it? Scholes could sit back and dictate games because he had better players in front on him. Gerrard was exceptional as I said but he didn't have the football brain of Scholes. Maybe Zidane and Xavi didn't know anything about midfielders. Maybe they're wrong in their opinions that Scholes was better.


14.) 21 Aug 2020
21 Aug 2020 15:44:55
2nd best ever player at the club. After Gordon Hill.


15.) 22 Aug 2020
22 Aug 2020 09:15:01
Ed001 whom do you think was the best among the three? ( Scholes, Lamps, Gerrard)

{Ed001's Note - I did a comparison article about it: Scholes v Lampard v Gerrard


16.) 22 Aug 2020
22 Aug 2020 10:25:35
Deisered, what that tells you is that for Liverpool if Gerrard didn't do it no one did. Gerrard was always Stevie Me. He took all the penalties, he took all the free kicks. It always had to be about him.

While Scholes was happy to let his teammates take the limelight. He hardly took penalties or free kicks, he was happy to be the one to facilitate the other players in the team.

I've not seen another player in my lifetime that had a better footballing brain than Scholes. Always two yards ahead of everyone else, he knew when to foul, when to pass and to who, he could receive a ball turn on a sixpence and hit a diagonal 60 yard ball to the feet of our winger without even looking up, because he knew where the winger and where he would be before he received the pass.

You see so many players attempt the "Hollywood" pass, but it isn't effective because it's about looking good, the player takes too long to look up, make a decision, set himself and play the pass that even if they didn't put too much elevation on the ball that everyone knows where the ball is going before it's hit. Scholes used to hit those passes much lower and direct and without the need to look up and advertise the pass before he hit it. Meaning that when he did the opposition were often caught flat footed and he gave our winger and extra few yards in a dangerous position.

While a lot of United's success during the 90's and 00's has been pegged on players like Cantona, Keane, Giggs, RvN, Rooney and Ronaldo. The truth is that none of them were as good a footballer as Scholes.