Today is the 38th birthday of one of United's modern day legends. A player who season after season is consistent as the day he broke into the first team.
Paul Scholes a Salford lad at birth and a member of the 1993 FA youth cup runners up team with Phil Neville he made his debut as a 19 year old when he played against Port Vale in the 1994 league cup and made his intentions clear by scoring both goals in a 2-1 win and a few days later he made his league debut against Ipswich Town and scored a consolation in a 3-2 defeat. He scored his first goal at Old Trafford in early 1995 when he scored against Coventry City.
The 1995-96 season he started to make his mark in the first team as a striker when Mark Hughes departed for Chelsea and this was the season United did the double with kids. Scholes was starting to make his mark on the footballing world with his goalscoring and general all round play. An International call was not far and he went on to play for England 66 times scoring 14 goals and playing in 4 tournaments.
Scholes dropped to a more central midfield position after Roy Keane long term injury and revelled in that position with his accurate passing, scoring goals and his tackling although sometimes he was a bit late as his 100 yellows and 10 red cards would testify.
The treble season of 98-99 was one of the finest Scholes and United had encountered. He flourished in a season where everything was perfect. He scored in the FA cup final against Newcastle and played a key role in bringing the title back to Old Trafford. The semi final of the champions league saw him and Roy Keane earn yellow cards which meant they both missed the final. As in typical Scholes he played down the issue and was fully behind the team.
His career was on the up and an integral part of the United team but during the 2005-06 season he missed the second half of the season due to blurred vision and there were fears he would have to retire. Thankfully, he made a full recovery and was back in the team and being a real influence. One of his finest moments that I witnessed was his winning goal against Barcelona at Old Trafford which sent United to the final. Thankfully he made the an appearance in the final and United won the cup.
As the years rolled on he started to make the record books in terms of one of United's most decorated players in terms of medals, appearances and goal scored. Towards the end of the 2011 season although a title was secured he was sent off in the FA cup semi final against Manchester City at Wembley and suffered more agony at Wembley when United lost against Barcelona in the champions league final.
The end of the season he announced his retirement and went on to become a coach for the reserve team. His testimonial was in August but he reversed his decision and came back to united after a injury crisis and made his return against Manchester City in the FA Cup and came on as a sub and joy was on every United fan.
His first game back at Old Trafford he scored against Bolton and it was like he was never missing. He signed a contract extension at the end of the season and marked his 700th appearance by scoring against Wigan and his record continued with scoring in 19 consecutive seasons.
To date he has made 702 appearances and scored 155 goals. In terms of honours 10 premiership titles, 3 FA cups, 2 champions leagues, 2 league cups and 2 world club titles.
Following United since the late seventies I have had several favourites from Robson, Whiteside, Hughes, Cantona, Beckham, Neville and Giggs but Scholes will always be one of my favourites and adored by many
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