Back To The Future? More like No Country For Old Men

By David McDonnell

Published 10:16 10/01/12

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The decision to recall Paul Scholes from retirement, eight months after the Manchester United midfielder called time on his career, is a regressive step from a club and a manager that prides itself on its forward-thinking approach.

It smacks of a panic move by Sir Alex Ferguson and a sign of desperation by a club that is worrying short of midfield cover but lacks the financial clout or emerging talent to address the issue from within. Which of those two is more worrying for United fans is open to debate.

The restrictions placed on United's spending because of the financial burdens of the club's ownership by the Glazer family are well-documented and are borne out by the startling fact that Scholes rejoining United means he is the first central midfielder to sign for the club since Anderson in 2007.

Financial constraints aside, of equal concern to United fans will be the message the return of Scholes sends out to those young players who have come through the ranks at Old Trafford and are now desperate to make their mark by stepping up to the first-team.

Much has been made of the likes of Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison, dynamic young midfielders, whose talent Ferguson has championed, but whose prospects of breaking into the United first-team took a savage blow with Scholes having decided retirement wasn't for him.

Pogba and Morrison are out of contract at the end of this season, and it would be no surprise if one or both decided their careers would be best served elsewhere, given their lack of first-team opportunities with the return of Scholes, and the certainty that United will bring in a new central midfielder this summer.

The return of Scholes is undoubtedly a short-term fix to a long-term problem, one Ferguson has failed to address since the former England international's initial retirement. The likes of Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick and Darron Gibson have all fulfilled the role, with varying degrees of success.

But it says everything about United's failure to address the problem position that Wayne Rooney has been deployed there at times this season and that, at 38 and with his games rationed because of his age, Ryan Giggs continues to play there and controlled the midfield in Sunday's FA Cup win over local rivals Manchester City.

Scholes earned the nicknamed 'Sat Nav' at United because of his unerring accuracy in finding targets with a ball, a pass completion rate of 97 per cent in his 30-minute cameo against Manchester City testimony to that remarkable gift.

Such a high percentage rate was perhaps expected, with Scholes brought on with precisely that remit of keeping possession, a task made easier by United's numerical advantage, with City having been reduced to 10 men after Vincent Kompany's early dismissal.

But the stats masked Scholes's evident lack of match sharpness, as proven by his sloppy attempted return pass to Patrice Evra, which saw him give the ball away in the move that led to City's second goal, which ensured an unnecessary anxious finale for United.

A United legend and a player revered as the best midfielder of his generation, his involvement is likely to be restricted to late cameos, such as the one he performed at City, where his most significant contribution was giving the ball away for their second goal.

Scholes is no longer the rampaging, box-to-box midfielder who would get into double figures in terms of goals every season, having been forced to reinvent his game and take a more measured approach as age took its toll.

When he decided to call it a day last season, he admitted his legs had gone and that he felt he was no longer able to make a significant contribution to United. So what has changed in eight months? How can returning now, without any pre-season training or sharpness from competitive action have altered that scenario?

United's lengthy injury list has undoubtedly played a part in the return of Scholes, for it is inconceivable he would have come out of retirement had Ferguson had a full squad from which to choose, instead of having to put square pegs in round holes by deploying players out of their natural positions. Only time will tell if the decision to bring Scholes back was another managerial masterstroke from Ferguson or a mistake which will serve to tarnish the legacy of a United legend and arguably the greatest midfielder of his generation. Sadly for Scholes, it all points to the latter.

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