Paul Scholes is a diver. Not only that, he is so inept a practitioner of the black art he was spotted immediately by Steve Bennett in the recent’s draw with Chelsea and quite properly booked.
Working on a principle similar to the one where alcoholics claim a glass of white wine does not really count as a drink, the Manchester United midfielder immediately forgot about his caution and did his best to put himself out of Saturday’s FA Cup final with an appalling challenge on Frank Lampard minutes later. Only Bennett’s lenience saved him, much to the disgust of the Millwall manager, Dennis Wise, and Scholes even had the nerve to scowl when Sir Alex Ferguson pulled him off the pitch for his own good.
This is not a character assassination, this is simply Scholes’s version of events. The England player is not overly fond of giving interviews, but when he does talk his views are as direct and uncompromising as his game. One could call his honesty refreshing, except that honesty and diving do not deserve to be in the same sentence. Is there such a thing as an honest diver? One who freely admits it, perhaps. And Scholes certainly admits it.
‘I just ran in to him [Claude Makelele], tried to make it look like there had been contact and the referee saw right through me,†Scholes said.
‘It probably wasn’t hard, but I couldn’t get the ball so I had to try something. Pulling me off was probably the right thing for the manager to do, but at the time I was a bit surprised. I hadn’t played for a few weeks and it was disappointing to only last half an hour of my comeback game. I hadn’t really thought I was in trouble over the Lampard tackle. It slipped my mind that I had already been booked because it was a dive and not a tackle.
‘I suppose it is a compliment if Dennis Wise thought I should have had a second yellow, but I’m grateful I didn’t get one. It would have been a silly thing to happen and it would have been my own fault. The manager just told me he had to take me off before I got sent off. He was right.
”I wouldn’t have liked to have been suspended for another final. In 1999 it was nice the club won the European Cup, I was obviously pleased for the lads who played, but I felt a bit subdued during the celebrations even though I knew I had contributed a little bit.â€
Despite his dejection in Barcelona five years ago, after scoring a goal in the FA Cup final defeat of Newcastle that formed the second part of the treble, Scholes insists he does not have a personal score to settle with Europe and claims losing the title to Arsenal has been the greater disappointment this season.
‘The league is always the trophy you want at the beginning of a season,†he said. ‘We fell away after Christmas and were maybe a little bit unlucky to go out of Europe. [Scholes scored the wrongly disallowed goal that might have seen United prevail against Porto at Old Trafford.] At least the FA Cup can brighten the end of our season.
”The fans have followed us everywhere and have stuck behind us. They maybe could have turned at times, but they haven’t done. The support at the semifinal was fantastic and I’m sure we’ll take that to Cardiff as well.â€
Disarmingly, Scholes is not even sure United deserve their status as overwhelming favourites.
‘We don’t look at it like that,†he said. ‘Millwall are just the type of team we have struggled against this year. We’ve lost against a lot of the lower teams. I know Dennis will try to wind me up. He always does.â€
Ferguson sees a parallel with Crystal Palace, against whom he won his first trophy as United manager in the 1990 final.
‘Palace were a handful in that game, they worked hard, were terrific at set pieces and I think we can expect the same attitude from Millwall,†he said. ‘They will get stuck in and it could be a difficult afternoon.â€
Scholes has played in a number of different positions this season and is happy with the 14 goals he has scored, less so with his all-round game. He confesses his England drought is a worry, too — ‘It does bother me because I think I am in the team to score goals from midfield†— but is confident United will bounce back next season.
‘It’s difficult to say why the level of performance hasn’t been there this season,†he said. ‘You can make excuses, Rio [Ferdinand, banned for missing a drugs test] especially was a massive loss, but there isn’t one particular thing you can put your finger on. It hurts to see another team winning the league, but we are not suddenly all playing for our futures at this club, it has been like that for years.
”Every time you lose a couple of games here everyone is for sale and the team is finished. We’ve come back before from not winning a trophy, we’ve come back before from losing the title to Arsenal. We are determined we can catch them again.†—