Former Manchester United teammates Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt discuss their careers in a new podcast, revealing a surprising detail about Butt's near-transfer to Real Madrid.
Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt grew up together and became best friends. They came through Manchester United 's academy in tandem and know each other inside out.
The Manchester Evening News spoke with Scholes and Butt ahead of their new podcast and they were in excellent form during an interview in which nothing was off the table. Butt felt the same and admitted recording the podcast had been worthwhile. "It’s a bit cringey when you sit there with a microphone in front of you and talk about the old days," he said.
Scholes added: "I think a lot of that came from the foreign players. Some of them liked a drink, but most were looking after their bodies, eating properly and going to the gym. "We were pulled out of our comfort zone every single day," Butt responded. "When you’ve got talent like a Scholesy or a Giggsy, or a Becks, you know they’re going to be footballers.
"And then when things do go bad on a pitch, you have the resilience to change it, so that’s what I meant by that. The football was perfect, the lifestyle was perfect, we got treated unbelievably well, got fed great, had a dream job, but there were sides that weren’t always perfect. After being benched against Liverpool, Scholes was frustrated and refused to play in a League Cup game against Arsenal. There was no contact with Ferguson for 10 days as he reported for international duty with England and he was fined two weeks' wages when he returned.
Scholes and Butt remain in contact with Ferguson and saw him recently for breakfast, but they are conscious of giving him breathing space. "I think it’s a bit tricky because we obviously respect him and admire him so much and we don’t want to be a pain," Butt explained. The 83-year-old said Ten Hag was 'doing a fantastic job', but the wheels spectacularly came off for United last season. They finished eighth in the league, recording their lowest-ever Premier League finish and a minus goal difference, and the club contacted other managers about potentially replacing Ten Hag.
"The Brighton game, they actually played alright and should have won the game. The game against Liverpool felt like a big step backwards because you like to see a squad developing, progressing and getting closer, but it doesn’t feel, at this moment, like there’s much improvement. "I’ll play in my position, I’ll stay here and not go forward that much, I’ll defend when I can, but when I played we had brilliant forward players so I didn’t really have to get involved with that, I could just stay back and relax, whereas he probably feels his forward players aren’t good.
"Ruud never looked like he was going to be a coach for me," Butt said. "However, most of the Dutch players I’ve played with have been football geeks, they love it and talk tactics as players. "You can't go into a club like that and think it will work the same as they did it at a Brighton or a Newcastle because the expectation is huge.
So would he return to United after his departure in 2021? "I think no, I’ve had my time at Man United now, Scholesy has, and you move on, look at other parts of life," he said. "It’s obviously not nice and we saw a couple of people last week who had lost their jobs, people you have known for a long time, but that’s what new owners do," said Scholes.
"But the biggest thing for me is he’s identified the holes within the training complex, the facilities, stadium, and that’s so important because it's so far behind it’s untrue.
Manchester United Paul Scholes Nicky Butt Real Madrid Football Podcast
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