Paul Scholes 'Hated' Playing For England And Was 'Worried' About Reaction He'd Get If He Stopped Playing

"Scholsey was always telling me to put the kettle on and one day we were having a chat about the Euros that summer. He said he hated playing for England, which came as a bit of a shock. I asked him why he kept turning up and he said ‘well it’s England, that’s what you have to do.’

"Paul was worried about the reaction he would get from the rest of the country if he stopped playing for England.

“I asked him if he’d ever felt the same way playing for his school team or with his mates or for United - and he said that was different. He loved that. I told him that he was being bullied into doing something that went against his own instincts. Not long afterwards, he packed in international football. Was it down to our chat? I don’t know because we never spoke about it again.

“I know he didn’t like being away from home. He was always a family man and he didn’t want to be away from his wife and kids. If you go away with England and you’re not happy then you’re not going to perform at your best on the pitch.”

“As soon as I became England manager… he hadn’t been in the squad but I earmarked him and Becks [David Beckham] straight away to be brought in,” Hoddle told BT Sport.

“What I’d seen of him, he was just top, top quality. He then continued that for the next 15 years.

“He had everything. Everyone says to me, ‘Who is the best player you’ve coached?’. It’s Paul.”

Hoddle did say, however, that Scholes was not the complete package when he first arrived in the national squad.

“Because you could see that he wanted to win the ball and he went in sometimes… and I’m thinking ‘He’s going to get sent off a few times’.

“That was the only problem he had as a player. If that’s your only weakness then you’ve got a chance.

“He was excellent, his technique was second to none.”