Paul Scholes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Scholes
Scholes
Personal information
Full name Paul Scholes
Date of birth November 16, 1974 (age 32)
Place of birth Salford, England
Height 5 ft 7 in / 1.70 m
Nickname The Ginger Prince, Ginger Ninja, Scholesy
Position Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club Manchester United
Number 18
Youth clubs
1991–1992 Manchester United
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1993— Manchester United 506 (90)
National team**
1997–2004 England 066 (14)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 22 October, 2006.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of 21:16, 6 December 2006 (UTC).

Paul Aaron Scholes (born November 16, 1974) is an English football player who has spent his whole career at Manchester United. One of the most decorated players of his generation[1], Scholes has been praised many times for his modesty and attitude towards the game, and for his pin-point passing.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

Born in Salford, England, Scholes has trained with Manchester United since the age of 14. He then later joined as a trainee upon leaving school in the summer of 1991 (although he was a diehard fan of Oldham Athletic, and remains so[citation needed]) and in his first season guided the club to victory in the FA Youth Cup. He turned professional on 23 July 1993, but did not make his breakthrough into the Old Trafford team until the 1994–95 season, when he made 17 league appearances and scored five goals. The 20-year-old Scholes proved himself to be a promising understudy for the likes of Éric Cantona and Andy Cole. In the FA Cup final he twice came close to scoring goals which would have seen United and not Everton win the FA Cup.

[edit] Late 90s

Scholes was unable to secure a regular first team place until the 1997–98 season, when he played in midfield after the ninth game when Roy Keane was ruled out by injury. He had already made his England debut the previous summer in a 2–1 friendly win over South Africa at Old Trafford, and was part of the England squad for the 1998 World Cup.

In 1998–99, Scholes was a key player in Manchester United's Premiership title, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League "Treble" success. He scored one of United's two goals against Newcastle in the FA Cup final but was ruled out of the Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich through suspension, brought about by a yellow card received in the semi-final away tie against Juventus. He also managed a hat-trick for England in a game against Poland. In addition, Scholes scored both goals in England's 2-0 win at Hampden over Scotland in the Euro 2000 Play-off first leg, sealing a 2-1 aggregate win and qualification for Euro 2000.

[edit] Established player

Since then, Paul Scholes has established himself as a world class midfielder at both club and international levels. He became a key player in both the Manchester United and England squads, playing an important role in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

He announced his retirement from international football in August 2004, stating that club football was his utmost priority, and he vowed to excel with Manchester United. Prior to this, however, he had become more peripheral to the England team, down in part to the rise of Frank Lampard, and having to play at left midfield during Euro 2004. He has recently rejected calls by Steve McClaren to rejoin the England National Team.

In ten years as a first team player at Manchester United, Paul Scholes aka The Ginger Ninja, has won six Premiership titles, three FA Cups, the European Cup, and the Inter-Continental Cup, amongst many other personal accolades.

Unlike other modern footballers, Scholes does not have an agent and negotiates deals on his own behalf. He rarely gives interviews or accepts advertising contracts. Sir Alex Ferguson has said that he is a "shy man" . Ruud van Nistelrooy has praised Scholes' tendency to avoid all publicity. [citation needed]

[edit] Later career

Scholes' retirement from England helped revive his club form in 2005. Scholes had a crucial penalty saved by Jens Lehmann in the penalty shootout during the 2004–05 FA Cup final against Arsenal, thus allowing Arsenal to win the trophy. However, he was ruled out for the second half of the 2005–06 season with blurred vision. The cause of this was initially uncertain, at first leaving Scholes' career in the balance [2]. He overcame this problem through the beginning of the year and he appeared in United's final game of the 2005–06 season, against Charlton Athletic. Reportedly, Scholes' vision has not been completely recovered [3].

Scholes caused controversy in September 2006 after allegedly making a homophobic comment to the referee during his club's 1-0 win over Benfica in the Champions League.[4]

Scholes has, however, declared that when the time comes for him to leave Manchester United, he would not rule out ending his career at his boyhood club, Oldham Athletic [citation needed].

Scholes recently scored his first goal since last Boxing Day against FC Copenhagen in the Champions League match, ending people's doubt about his comeback to form after the eye incident that almost ruled him out of football forever last December.

On the 22 October 2006, in the 2-0 Premiership victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford, twelve years after marking his Red Devils debut with a League Cup brace against Port Vale, Scholes became the ninth United player to reach the 500th appearance landmark, following the likes of Sir Bobby Charlton, Bill Foulkes, Denis Irwin and current team-mates Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville. Scholes opened the scoring in the 39th minute, prodding the ball home following a Ryan Giggs cross. Rio Ferdinand scored the second goal, in the 66th minute. He was voted Man of the Match and gave a rare interview after the game.

[edit] International career

Scholes made his international debut against Italy in 1997 and announced his retirement in August 2004.

When he was sent off against Sweden at Wembley Stadium in 1999, he became the first English player to ever be dismissed on home soil. Given that the stadium has now been demolished he will therefore forever be the only England played to have received a red card in England's 223 matches at the old stadium. [5]

More recently, Scholes has twice turned down the opportunity to come out of retirement and retain his position in the England squad under the new manager, Steve McClaren citing his commitment to his family life.

[edit] Honours

[edit] With Manchester United (1994 - 2006)

[edit] Individual honours

  • Barclays Premiership Player of the Month for October, 2006

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchesterunited/comments/view.html?story_id=228753
  2. ^ "Scholes career in the balance".
  3. ^ "Scholes still troubled by vision problems".
  4. ^ "Scholes urged to apologise after alleged homophobic remark". Retrieved on 2006-09-29.
  5. ^ "English International Disciplinary Records".

[edit] External links


Manchester United F.C. - Current Squad

1 Van der Sar | 2 Neville | 3 Evra | 4 Heinze | 5 Ferdinand | 6 Brown | 7 Ronaldo | 8 Rooney | 9 Saha | 11 Giggs | 13 Park | 14 Smith | 15 Vidić | 16 Carrick | 18 Scholes | 20 Solskjær | 22 O'Shea | 23 Richardson | 24 Fletcher | 27 Silvestre | 29 Kuszczak | 34 Shawcross | 35 Lee | 36 Gray | 38 Heaton | 41 Marsh | 42 Barnes | 43 Rose | 49 R. Jones | Manager: Ferguson
England England squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists England

1 Seaman | 2 Mills | 3 A. Cole | 4 Sinclair | 5 Ferdinand | 6 Campbell | 7 Beckham | 8 Scholes | 9 Fowler | 10 Owen | 11 Heskey | 12 Brown | 13 Martyn | 14 Bridge | 15 Keown | 16 Southgate | 17 Sheringham | 18 Hargreaves | 19 J. Cole | 20 Vassell | 21 Butt | 22 James | 23 Dyer | Coach: Eriksson
England England squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup England

1 Seaman | 2 Campbell | 3 Le Saux | 4 Ince | 5 Adams | 6 Southgate | 7 Beckham | 8 Batty | 9 Shearer | 10 Sheringham | 11 McManaman | 12 Neville | 13 Martyn | 14 Anderton | 15 Merson | 16 Scholes | 17 Lee | 18 Keown | 19 L. Ferdinand | 20 Owen | 21 R. Ferdinand | 22 Flowers | Coach: Hoddle
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../p/a/u/Paul_Scholes_fd68.html"