Ryan Giggs did it and so did Gary Neville. It was only a matter of time when Paul Scholes followed his teammates by signing a one-year contract extension with Manchester United. But it was easier said than done.
Sir Alex Ferguson had to sweat to convince Scholes to stay at Old Trafford for at least one more year. He had made his mind on retiring from club football at the end of last season but his manager made him change his mind.
Sir Alex Ferguson had to sweat to convince Scholes to stay at Old Trafford for at least one more year. He had made his mind on retiring from club football at the end of last season but his manager made him change his mind.
Sir Alex Ferguson later revealed that he talked Paul Scholes out of retiring; something his national team manager Fabio Capello couldn’t do. Scholes signed a new one-year contract with Manchester United, keeping the 35-year-old at Old Trafford until June 2011.
Sir Alex said:
Sir Alex said:
I did speak to him. He'd intimated that he may retire at the end of the season. I said, I'll decide when you retire.....look, Paul, you can play there's no question of that. Your ability's there, there's no deterioration in your actual play.
When you get to his age, and the same goes for Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville, there's deterioration in the physical aspect of it. That's natural. We all face that. But in terms of his ability, there's no deterioration whatsoever.
Sir Alex stressed on the experience of Scholes and explained why he's such a big asset to the club. He praised Scholes’ decision to focus his energy purely on club matters when he quit the England scene following Euro 2004 even though he had yet to reach his 30th birthday.
Paul Scholes has spent his whole career at Manchester United. He has won the UEFA Champions League twice and the Premier League nine times. I hope he wins his 10th Premier League title next season and helps us to get it back from Chelsea.
