'My mind was gone': Paul Scholes talks about his biggest regret with Man United
Paul Scholes is one of the best players in Manchester United history, but not everything went according to plan during his career.
The former midfielder stood out the red devils'The youngster qualifies to become a club legend, lifting 25 trophies during a stellar 20-year career at Old Trafford.
Despite its great success, there is a time when Scholes He does not reflect so fondly.
In November 2001, the Englishman refused to play for United in a League Cup clash against Arsenalafter being frustrated at having made only a brief cameo in the 3-1 Premier League defeat to Liverpool the night before.
The manager subsequently fined Scholes two weeks' pay for his actions. Sir Alex Fergusonand has since shared his regret over the situation.
appearing in The Overlap fan debatea United supporter asked the 49-year-old about the incident, to which he laughed nervously before covering his head with his hand.
The former England international then admitted he had made a huge error in judgement, reflecting: “I made a mistake. “I should have gone (and played against Arsenal).”
He later confessed: “Look, I totally regret it because, by refusing to play for Man United, I thought my time was up in all honesty.
“But I think when I go back to that time, I was just out of my mind.”
Scholes explained that he had been left furious after not being chosen to start against bitter rivals Liverpool.
He recalled: “We played Liverpool on Sunday and they left me out of the team, which happened all the time.
“I was always someone who understood if they left me out. It bothered me, but I would know why. That game, for some reason, affected me because I thought I should have been playing.
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“And like I say, if you had a bad game the week before, then I'll take it, or if someone is better in this game, then great. But at the time I just didn't agree with the decision.”
With United heading into half-time trailing 2-0 after goals from michael owen and John Arne RiiseScholes admitted he was desperate to get on the pitch and help turn the tide.
However, as the match progressed, he became convinced that Ferguson would rest him for the Arsenal match.
He continued: “I never spoke to the manager about this, but Jim Ryan was the assistant manager at the time.
“So I feel like moving on, I'm in the back, warming up all the time. I go and sit behind him and think: 'We've been screwed, we've been rubbish', getting hit, getting hit 2-0.#
“I was probably just paranoid and out of my mind, (but) I had a feeling the manager told Jim Ryan, 'No, we'll leave it for tomorrow.'
“And that affected me.”
Scholes finally came on after 77 minutes and admitted the decision left him feeling exhausted.
The former star explained: “I think he brought me maybe five or ten minutes to go with the intention of playing against me the next night, after which it was Arsenal in the League Cup, where we started playing against everyone. the young ones.
“So he probably would have been the only first-team player to go.
“And your mental state sometimes, you probably don't think rationally. I may have been paranoid at the time, but I felt like there was something against me at the time.”
And while Scholes may have felt aggrieved on this occasion, he certainly more than rebuilt his bridges in the years that followed.
He spent the rest of his career at Old Trafford, officially hanging up his boots in 2013 with 11 Premier League winners' medals and two Champions League titles, having made more than 700 appearances for the club.
