Man Utd 'world class genius' was teacher's pet but he took no s***

Daily Record

a day ago

Fergie didn't suffer fools during his managerial career but had a soft spot for this player
Former Man Utd No. 2 Rene Meulensteen has revealed how Paul Scholes was Sir Alex Ferguson 's 'teacher's pet'.
And the Dutchman said it's simply because the England icon was 'a genius'. Scholes spent two trophy-laden decades at Old Trafford and even came out of retirement during a time of need for Ferguson.
‌
And asked who the biggest teacher's pet was during his time as assistant to Sir Alex, Meulensteen told Action Network: 'Paul Scholes because of the footballer he was, he was a genius, and I would rate him as one of the best world class midfielders ever.
‌
'He was a genius and in training, if the bus was there and wasn't moving, he could hit it with a ball from 60 yards.
'I remember once, I was standing next to the manager with a cup of tea and Scholes wacked the ball from 40 yards.
"I saw the ball coming and Scholes ran past me and said why did you move?
'We had a soft spot for him because everyone knew how important he was.
"He was a no-nonsense player who took no s*** and was a really good trainer but also was at his best.
'He wasn't loud but when he said something, people would listen. Everyone respected him for how good of a player he was.'
‌
And despite Ferguson's reputation for giving players the famous "hairdryer" treatment, Meulensteen said he didn't see the legendary Scot lose the rag much.
He said: "In all of my time as a first team coach, I can only remember when he raised his voice after West Ham when Nani got sent off towards the end of the season and basically, he did it to fire up all of the other players to say, you have to work double as hard to get us over the line.
"He didn't want anyone to feel hard done by, but he was direct and tough with Nani but with a hidden message to all of the other players.
‌
"Other than that, I always felt he was spot on and never spoke for too long. He addressed things in two or three minutes at half time and that was it.
"I was lucky to be there at a time when we won more than we lost so most of the time it was great.
"If he did run into a defeat we didn't expect, even with a 6-1 defeat to Man City, you would think here we go. But the biggest thing that I took away from it was he was disappointed by the lack of players listening.
"We got 1-0 down and Jonny Evans gets sent off and then go 3-0 down and we started going forward and Darren Fletcher scores to make it 3-1. It would've still been a hard struggle. Sir Alex was big on goal difference and losing 6-1, he said it cost us the league and it did by one goal."