Paul Scholes with some wise words in the mirror

[finnster01]

Couldn't agree more

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/News-Ex-Manchester-United-star-Paul-Scholes-blames-England-national-failures-on-selfish-stars-article763392.html

[Lighthouse]

Scholes wise words in the mirror - " God I'm ugly"

[finnster01]

Scholes wise words in the mirror - " God I'm ugly"

:clap_hands:

I guess I was asking for that one

[LordNelson]

He won't be a guest of honor at villa park anytime soon.

[jarv]

Always good for a bit of controversy. I wonder if he consulted Danny Murphy before naming a specific team. :005:
Next international match, pre game discussion should be interesting, depending on who is picked. How about a team picked from Villa, Everton, newcastle, Fulham, Bolton. :005:

[HatterDon]

My security program wouldn't allow me to view the link, Mr. Finn, so I wasn't able to read it. Can anyone do a cut-and-paste job on it?

Failing that, can someone tell me if Scholes complained that today's England footballers didn't win as many trophies as they did when he was playing for England?

[LordNelson]

Paul Scholes blames England failures on "selfish" stars


Paul Scholes blames England's international failures on "very selfish" stars who use the Three Lions as a platform to boost their club careers and bank balances rather than playing for the team.

The former Manchester United midfielder retired in May after helping the Old Trafford outfit win a record 19th English title.

He admits one of the reasons he quit England after Euro 2004 was his frustration at a lack of national pride in the international set-up – not the fact that Sven-Goran Eriksson played him out of position on the left of his diamond formation.

He revealed: "I got fed up. When you are going to a team, you want to be part of a team and play well, but there are individuals who are after personal glory.

"When there is a simple pass of 10 yards, they might try and smack it 80 yards. They will do things to try and get themselves noticed.

"Playing on the left was never a problem. I played on the left for United I don't know how many times. I probably had my most successful time scoring goals in that position so it was never a problem."

Scholes admits Jamie Carragher's claim that it hurt more to lose for Liverpool than England probably summed up the lack of passion and commitment, as well as selfishness, that runs through the Three Lions set-up.

Scholes said: "You still hate losing whether it is United or England. Maybe that is half the problem then, if players are going into that squad and not caring about it.

"I think there definitely is an element of that – what Jamie said about not being bothered about England losing.

"I always felt players at clubs like your Aston Villas try to use England as a way to get to a top club.

"Which, I don't know, you feel, 'Are they there for the right reason?' I think they are very selfish people.

"It happened in my day. I think they are all there to get their bit of glory, their bit of headlines to think 'Oh, I will get a move from this'.

"That is the biggest problem with English players – most of them are just too selfish."

Scholes admits that players using England as a platform to further their careers, and engineer transfers to top clubs, was a source of frustration for him and some of his Man United team mates at international level. The midfielder always gave 100 per cent for his country and could not understand the people who only turned up because playing international football enhanced their status as players.

He insisted: "They have probably done what they have wanted to do and that is enough to get to a big club. I think it was a frustration for us United lads.

"It was just selfish."

He admits some players use England call-ups as a way to boost their club wages by citing what other internationals earned.

"But is that the right environment to do that?" he asks.

Scholes believes English players are not technically inferior to those of previous World Cup-winning teams such as Spain, Italy, France or Brazil, but are let down by their attitude and play too much for themselves.

"I think it is probably more attitude," he explained. "If you look at the Spain team now, they all seem to play for each other.

"There isn't one of them who would try to do something in a game that doesn't suit the team and the way they play. And that could happen over here."

[MJG]

He turned down playing for England in favor of his club side....nuff said.

[HatterDon]

He turned down playing for England in favor of his club side....nuff said.

Yeah, that seems kind of strange. He played 7 full seasons after "retiring" from international football so as to concentrate on his club. A bit of pot-kettle there. As I've said before, the major difference between the England teams of the 60s-70s and those of today, is that 40-50 years ago, the players were generally the best in their individual teams. Today, I can't think of a single England player who is the best on his team. Those players who play for sides that consistently win silverware -- Terry, Cole, Ferdinand, Rooney -- generally play better for their teams than they do for England because Chelsea and Man United are stronger and more technically adept than any team England could name. Just as the strongest team that the United States could field wouldn't be nearly as good as Fulham or Bolton or Everton -- the teams their three Premier League based players earn their living from.

And thanks for the cut-and-paste, your Lordship.  082.gif

[Jimpav]

Scholes wise words in the mirror - "why did no one tell me I had special one hair"