Comfort zone? Oldham is as far away from that as Scholes could get
IT makes my blood boil when I hear people accusing Paul Scholes of staying in the “comfort zone” by taking over as Oldham Athletic manager.
Certain comments about Scholes jumping behind the wheel at Boundary Park have left me absolutely baffled. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but let’s get one thing straight. Yes, he is now manager of the club he has always supported, but Scholes has never been further out of the comfort zone in his life.
If he wanted to stay out of the firing line, he’d be travelling the world as an ambassador for Manchester United, being an assistant or academy coach somewhere, or playing golf. Or he would still be a TV pundit – where his opinions on BT Sport were refreshingly honest – which is much harder work than most people would think, by the way.
But Scholes has never taken the easy route. As a teenager, he suffered from asthma and had to fight tooth-and-nail to make it into the first-team squad at United – he wasn’t originally in the starting XI in the famous Class of 92. He became one of the most decorated players in English football history, and at one of the biggest football clubs in the world. Winning trophies year in, year out, he was used to the best of everything.
United had the best training facilities, stayed in the best hotels, travelled in luxury and ate the best food – wherever they went.
Comfort zone? In League Two, there are tales of no hot water in the showers, coffee machines being repossessed because clubs can’t pay the rental, players paying £80 a month for their lunches, and pitches at the training ground resembling cowfields because the grass is too long.
Comfort zone? Scholes will not be staying in many five-star hotels with Oldham. Budget chains will be the norm – and that’s when they aren’t travelling to away games on the day.
Comfort zone? Instead of sending an army of scouts all over the country, you have to run the rule over opponents or new signings yourself.
Comfort zone? If Steven Gerrard fails at Rangers, or Frank Lampard at Derby, they will get another job. But if Scholes fails at Oldham, where does he go? He’s put his neck on the block, just as Sol Campbell did at Macclesfield, and they deserve only our admiration.
They used to play in World Cups and European Championships for England, yet here they are at the sharp end of football. I take my hat off to them.
On the one hand, you had people saying the likes of Ryan Giggs shouldn’t land on his feet automatically in one of the top jobs – and on the other, now we have Scholes in his so-called “comfort zone”.
You can’t have it both ways. Scholes (left) has shown real bottle to take on the job at his home-town club. If it goes wrong, he won’t turn round and blame the groundsman, the recruitment, the fans or the board. He will blame himself.
He’s a family man who has always stayed close to his roots, and if his critics did their research properly, they would know why he chose that path.
People say Jose Mourinho will be watching him closely, because Scholes was always brutally honest in his criticism of Mourinho at United.
But Mourinho has never managed in the lower divisions. All his work has been with clubs at Champions League level, some with the resources to pay him off with £15million if it doesn’t work out.
Comfort zone? Paul Scholes is a Saddleworth lad who won it all in club football – and he’s brave enough to take on the muck and nettles.
Those who sneer at him now were never fit to lace his boots in the first place.