Paul Scholes has officially retired. A magnificent player and a quiet man of the game !! Paul will now move into a coaching role at Man U. A truly great premiership midfielder.

So there you have it - two completely different interpretations of the same ginger haired git.

Time to guess which easy game (at least on paper) that Man Utd will get on the last day of the 2011-12 season.

Here's the sequence in the past few years. An awfully odd coincidence, don't you think?

04-05 Southampton (a)
05-06 Charlton (h)
06-07 West Ham (h)
07-08 Wigan (a)
08-09 Hull (a)
09-10 Stoke (a)
10-11 Blackpool (h)

No disrespect to the above teams, but if the title was at stake on the last day can you honestly see Man Utd dropping points from those games.

Mark it on your calendar, Man Utd v Swansea, Sunday 13th May 2012 4pm.

I reckon QPR will do reasonably well, Norwich and Swansea less so. From what I've seen (which isn't that much) Swansea remind me of Blackpool - good going forward; but how good are they at the back?

Now I know defensively the stats don't lie. However, I think they'll get found out next season and for that reason it's far more likely they'll get relegated than the other two.

A dangerous thug of a footballer who thought he was too special to play for his country... Discuss 👅

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

A robust midfielder with a tendancy to mis-time his tackles, but gifted with the touch and vision to deliver the telling ball that most aspire to, but will never be able to achieve.......discuss that as well

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

A bit uncomfortable discussing this any further?  

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

Didn't see it. Doesn't change my opinion that he's a dirty fouling tosser and the game is better off without him 

To be fair to him, I can't judge too much. My viewing time of Man Utd is probably similar to yours. Not much

A dangerous thug of a footballer who thought he was too special to play for his country... Discuss 👅

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

A robust midfielder with a tendancy to mis-time his tackles, but gifted with the touch and vision to deliver the telling ball that most aspire to, but will never be able to achieve.......discuss that as well

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

A bit uncomfortable discussing this any further?  

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

Didn't see it. Doesn't change my opinion that he's a dirty fouling tosser and the game is better off without him 

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

Somewhat at odds with the opinions of most of his contemporaries. But what do they know they've only ever played with or against him

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

Makes my last post even more valid than it already was

A dangerous thug of a footballer who thought he was too special to play for his country... Discuss 👅

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

A robust midfielder with a tendancy to mis-time his tackles, but gifted with the touch and vision to deliver the telling ball that most aspire to, but will never be able to achieve.......discuss that as well

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

A bit uncomfortable discussing this any further?  

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

Didn't see it. Doesn't change my opinion that he's a dirty fouling tosser and the game is better off without him 

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

Somewhat at odds with the opinions of most of his contemporaries. But what do they know they've only ever played with or against him

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

Makes my last post even more valid than it already was

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

Lost me totally there

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

Regular down Old Trafford are we?

A dangerous thug of a footballer who thought he was too special to play for his country... Discuss 👅

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

A robust midfielder with a tendancy to mis-time his tackles, but gifted with the touch and vision to deliver the telling ball that most aspire to, but will never be able to achieve.......discuss that as well

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

A bit uncomfortable discussing this any further?  

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

Didn't see it. Doesn't change my opinion that he's a dirty fouling tosser and the game is better off without him 

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

Somewhat at odds with the opinions of most of his contemporaries. But what do they know they've only ever played with or against him

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

Makes my last post even more valid than it already was

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

Lost me totally there

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

Regular down Old Trafford are we?

Originally Posted by: llamedos 

Living in London and working the hours I do, not as much as I would like to. My wife's cousin has a hospitality box there, so I do make the odd visit  

Originally Posted by: Matty H 

Bloody toffs

If you could roll Stevie G and Lamps into one, taking their finest qualities and adding a touch of something even better, then you still wouldn't come anywhere near to Paul Scholes IMHO. Best of his generation by a long long way and for once in my life I will agree with Alan Shearer (the dirty horrible Mag scum that he is) "the only british player that, in his prime, would get in the current Barca team".

He wasn't really there to tackle, he left that to the fly by night, wannabe pop stars and inflated egos of Stevie and Lamps................unlike those two who always, without exception, go missing in a big game he actually played better the bigger the game.

My only negative would be that your country decides when they don't need you and he should have played on. However for Sven to put him on the left over those two halfwits was something an insult.

I agree Rob, I am not his greatest fan either............but if those three had been Italian, Spanish, German or Dutch then Scholes would still have his caps, maybe more..........the other two would have had a handful at best. Whilst we still put effort and energy and brainless 'up and at em' football over quality then we will always fail at international level.