Scholes
Paul Scholes announced his retirement today. A great player and admirable person. When Zidane pronounces someone as the most complete midfielder (as he did in regard to Scholes) there's not a lot more to be said. The great puzzle about Scholes was his reckless tackling. I have a theory. I've read or heard many times "surely Sralex could have taught him to tackle better". Exactly. Ferguson chose not to interfere. I think that there are two interrelated reasons. First, Ferguson, like Busby, while devoted to playing real football knows that you can only do that if you also take care of business and that involves a certain amount of intimidation. It may seem strange to speak of a pint-sized and wondrously skilled player as intimidating but size in football counts for little. Scholes went in low and hard. The edge of wildness undoubtedly caused the more fainthearted to bail out of challenges. The related reason is that Scholes' tackling was a reflection of his football personality: he played full out. Never leave anything on the pitch was my Dad's motto and it was Scholes' credo. I think Ferguson, master psychologist that he is, knew that to interfere with Scholes' occasionally wild tackling would have diminished the core of what made him great. And if it scared a few opponents, wha' the hey.