'I f****** wound down the window and said I'm not going': Paul Scholes' clash with Sir Alex Ferguson that nearly ended his Man United career
More often than not, Sir Alex Ferguson was an exceptionally good judge of character. The Scotsman was able to identify players who he thought would reach the very top of the game, while also predicting the ones who wouldn't. He is, however, only human - and even the great man got one or two first impressions wrong during his time at Manchester United.
"His father, Eamonn, had played at Everton. They were standing behind Brian Kidd, who had told me he was bringing in two lads he liked the look of. They were 13. 'Where are these two young kids?' I asked Brian. They were so small they were invisible behind Brian's frame. However, it did not take Ferguson too long to change his mind about Scholes. The midfielder, who went on to make over 700 appearances for the Reds, registering 153 goals and 75 assists, won 11 Premier League titles and two Champions League trophies at United.
"Opponents would spend a minute tracking him and then be made to appear inconsequential or even foolish. They would end up galloping back to their own box. He would destroy a marker that way." In the top-flight clash against Liverpool, Ferguson's side lost 3-1, with Michael Owen - who went on to play for United - scoring a brace in the match. For Scholes, it was disappointing given that he only played the final 13 minutes ahead of a tie against the Gunners the next day.
"I was wound up from the start of the game, my head had gone, and I was thinking he's going to bring me on and I don't know if I imagined it but I felt like he was doing it on purpose, 'I'm not bringing him on because I'm going to play him tomorrow', at that time it was like a League Cup game you play the reserves, you play the young lads.
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