“I’m not sure you can train it – I think it’s just in you,” Paul Scholes says of the fundamental qualities that made him the most decorated English footballer: calmness and composure. Those asking after England’s Euro 2024 final defeat last month where the country’s Rodri, Modric or Kroos was, could just as easily have wondered: “Where is our Scholes?”
Well, the midfield past master is here, at a special free school in Stretford, Greater Manchester – like the one his son, Aiden, attended – learning how the funds from a charity match will help. He’s wiping a mild sweat off his brow after playing football with a class of kids. And here he is, eulogising Kobbie Mainoo, Manchester United’s young midfielder who many believe could fulfil that role the triumphant Spaniards call pivote.
