November 16 – The Red Devil

AT my school the weedy asthmatic little ginger kid was always the last to be picked when it came to picking football teams in the playground, but we’re guessing it might have been different at Cardinal Langley School in Manchester in the late 1980s where a young Paul Scholes was a pupil.

Today is Scholesy’s 33rd birthday so we thought we’d pay tribute to the quiet man of football.

The little red devil is often lauded as something of an antidote to the modern professional footballer and held up as the perfect example for aspiring players.

In his 13 year spell at Manchester United he has notched up seven Premier League titles, three FA Cup medals, a European Cup among other honours. He was also an England regular for seven years until he retired from international football after Euro 2004 to concentrate on his club career.

This year Scholes became United’s top Premiership scorer after netting against Portsmouth and he is generally regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation.

Despite all this little Scholesy famously shins the limelight, choosing not to do interviews and turning down advertising contracts, preferring to do all his talking on the Old Trafford pitch.

One place he does speak up however is in the boardroom – Scholes does not have an agent so negotiates all his own deals with the club where he has spent his entire career.

Although he spends his Saturdays making the Old Trafford faithful smile, he is actually an Oldham Athletic fan and likes to get along to Boundary Park when he is not at work.

So raise a glass to Mr Scholes and you can bet your bottom dollar that you won’t see pictures of him falling out of a nightclub in London with a Page 3 stunnah on his arm – and not just because he’s ginger.

Here are some of Scholesy’s strikes, and come back tomorrow for one of the all time greats.

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