Paul Scholes says he contemplated joining another Premier League club before making an unexpected return to Manchester United ahead of their FA Cup clash against Manchester City in 2012.
The former midfielder, who spent his entire professional career at United between 1993 and 2013, made over 700 appearances for the Reds, where he lifted 11 league titles, three FA Cups and two Champions Leagues.
He initially decided to call it a day in May 2011 but after a brief time away from the game, Scholes came out of retirement in January 2012.
Speaking about his memorable return to United during a recent episode of The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Scholes recalled sitting in the Old Trafford stands shortly before making the decision.
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"I sat with Warren Joyce (under-21 coach) at a United game — I think it was a Boxing Day or a New Year’s Day or something — and they were playing Blackburn and were really struggling in midfield," he said.
"They got beat by Blackburn at home. So I said to Joyce jokingly, 'I fancy playing again.' But I was dead serious. He said, 'Yeah, why not? Go and see the manager.'"
The following day, Scholes paid a visit to Ferguson, who was more than happy to see the former England international. But the midfielder was open to joining another club if Sir Alex wasn't keen.
In fact, the 50-year-old claims David Moyes' Everton was an option at the time.
"So I went and saw him (Ferguson) the day after and said, 'I want to play again.' I thought he’d just say, 'Go on, get out of the office.' And if he did say that, I was going to say, 'Right, I want to play somewhere.'
"I actually spoke to Phil Neville about playing for Everton if the manager didn’t want me. The only two people I mentioned it to were Gary and Phil, and they thought it was the right thing to do (to rejoin United)."
"Moyes was the Everton manager at the time," added Scholes. "But I went to see the manager (Ferguson) early morning said, ‘Yeah, brilliant’. He rang David Gill and within 2 minutes he said, 'Let’s do it'."
A few days later and without a training session under his belt, Scholes made a surprise comeback as he featured in United's FA Cup third round win over Manchester City while wearing a £50 pair of boots from JJB Sports.
“I had to go to the retail park in Oldham to buy a pair of boots, because we couldn’t tell Nike and the coaches’ boots they gave us weren’t great,” he told United's official website in 2021.
“So I had to go and buy a pair for £50 or £60. Everybody knows then. I get to the ground and then my shirt was hanging up. Danny Welbeck was saying ‘I knew it, I knew, I knew you were coming back’.
“I was just embarrassed, thinking ‘is everybody looking at me and thinking what is he doing?’ So I put my boots on and went out for a warm-up. Jonny [Evans] said to me, ‘Are they the cheap boots that you’ve bought – you’ve bought the snide ones’.“
Topics: Paul Scholes, Man Utd, Premier League, Transfers
Jack Kenmare