Paul Scholes’ incredible final season

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Today is Paul Scholes’ birthday, so we’re looking at his un-retirement for Manchester United in 2012 and the last Title of his career in 2013.

Paul Scholes retired in May 2011 after securing an unbelievable third consecutive title win for Manchester United, a record 19th triumph overall. He seemed happy in that retirement. But midway through 2011/12 when things weren’t going so well for the Red Devils, Sir Alex Ferguson put in a call to Scholes.

Scholes made his comeback coming off the bench in a third round FA Cup clash against rivals Manchester City,

Were it not for the fact that we know Scholes is something of a bland fellow, this scenario could only be imagined cinematically, like the beginning of Commando when General Kirby tries to bring Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bulging John Matrix (no seriously that’s his name) out of retirement.

Still, Scholes returned. And although he couldn’t lift United to a fourth consecutive Title (they lost out on goal difference to the final day of the season) he refused to walk away on a defeat. And the next season he played a small but crucial part of United’s record 20th title triumph.

It’s easy to consider Scholes’ involvement in that Title as perfunctory, after all it was Robin van Persie who led the way with his goals and Michael Carrick was a dynamo in midfield; but those things had been present the previous season too (albeit then it was Wayne Rooney scoring) and United had fallen considerably short of all their targets.

Scholes’ mere presence added an incredible assurance to United, a belief that yes, they could still fire themselves to victory. More than that he added genuine quality on the pitch. Sure he was clearly past his best (he was 38 years-old after all) but he still brought a skill-level that few in the Premier League could surpass.

56.03 accurate passes per-game puts him sixth overall in the league for the 18 month span from his comeback to his second retirement. His 8.76 accurate long balls per-game was first among outfielders and better than all but two goalkeepers, whilst his 4.21 accurate chipped passes per-game was third overall. Moreover despite his age and limited mobility he was dispossessed a very low 0.82 times per-game.

Simply put, Paul Scholes was the touch of class the Red Devils needed. The majestic maestro in the middle whose return provided the platform the star players needed to thrive, which in turn allowed Manchester United to overpower everyone on their way to their 20th Premier League Title.