Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has revealed that scoring in the FA Cup Final in 1999 is one of his most fond memories in his illustrious career. Scholes – whose regret at refusing to feature in a League Cup tie at Highbury was published this morning by the Mirror – was speaking to Red News, who kindly gave us permission to use the quotes from their interview which is published tomorrow.
United won the Treble in 1999 with Scholes in imperious form – perhaps somewhat unfairly, often the most prominent thing you remember from his impact in the latter stages of that season is the fact that he missed the Champions League Final through suspension, but he scored the second goal in the 2-0 win over Newcastle United – Manchester United’s last competitive goal at the old Wembley Stadium.
He says, “It’s always nice when you’re coming to the end of the season and you have played well and you need to win something. Scoring a goal in an FA Cup Final will always be special. The FA Cup Final against Newcastle, the middle leg of the treble was a brilliant day for me I’ll be honest, I passed the ball to Teddy to score and I ended up scoring a goal afterwards so that is probably one of my most memorable times.”
Scholes also says he was “annoyed” by referees booking him for “every tackle” towards the end of his career. Scholes gained a reputation as a bad tackler and at the start of last season Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger even launched an unprovoked attack saying that the former midfielder was “not a fair player” and claimed he had a “dark side” in the midst of a great spell of form for the recently retired maestro.
Scholes, however, feels the reputation was somewhat unfair. “I don’t know, it just happened didn’t it, I never felt I was that bad a tackler really… obviously I was late a few times but I think towards the end of my career it also affected referees and every time I tackled somebody I got booked which got annoying really but that is something I have brought upon myself I suppose by gaining that sort of reputation.”
The full interview – which is a must read – is published in Red News, on sale tomorrow around Old Trafford. You can order it online here.
