The re-signing of Paul Scholes was well received by most United fans last Sunday.
Having retired in May, Scholes secretly returned for United’s 3-2 win against Man City.
Scholes was always a well liked player and with United’s midfield looking worse for wear following injuries, it would be assumed that his return would be well received by all.
But that isn’t the case and instead some have found negatives.
This week Sir Alex did a joint interview with Yahoo and the LMA and addressed the situation:
“One or two people have been negative. They’re making out it’s been a ‘regressive step’ for Manchester United.
“How can it be regressive? You’re getting a player for nothing who’s been part of the club for 20-odd years.
“He’s not going to play every game but in terms of composure and passing ability, is there a better player going around? Definitely not.”
One of the more remarkable elements of the story was United’s ability to keep the story secret.
Wayne Rooney claimed nobody knew until they saw him in the dressing room and Sir Alex also commented on why he wanted it to pan out that way:
“I don’t know how we managed it.
“We registered him on the Friday, and thought somehow it would get out. But we didn’t let any of the players know simply because of the impact value.
“We were going away from home in a very difficult FA Cup tie against City. We had 5,000 fans at that end of the ground and as soon as they knew his name was on the team sheet they were fantastic, there was a great response.”
For more insight from Sir Alex Ferguson and other leading managers plus exclusive Premier League highlights go to www.yahoo.co.uk/sport
It highlights the lack of quality in the central midfield. However we have been without Anderson and Cleverely for long periods this season. If they had both stayed fit then its unlikely we would have resigned Scholes.
We just can’t find the right player to replace Scholes. A lot of talk about Wesley Sneidjer but I felt he had Veron and Berbatov written all over him. Although he is a top player I’ve only really seen him perform consistently in 2010. Other players like Luka Modric would be perfect, but he is at Tottenham now. We should have identified his talents before he signed for them. We can’t now spend £40-50 million on Modric.