700 Not Out!

By Chris
September 16 2012

Paul Scholes notched up his 700th Manchester United appearance on Saturday and opened the scoring as the Red Devils swept aside Wigan Athletic. The 37-year-old midfielder, who made his United debut in 1994, has made 24 appearances since coming out of retirement in January.

Always shy of the limelight and media spotlight, Scholes grabbed the headlines on the pitch once again on Saturday as he marked his 700th United appearance with the game’s opening goal.

It is almost 18 years since he made his first United display, scoring twice in a League Cup tie at Port Vale.

He has subsequently gone onto become one of the most successful players in the club’s illustrious history, winning ten Premier League titles and a host of other major honours; whilst constantly winning plaudits from his peers.

Roy Keane once said of the Englishman: "No celebrity bullshit, no self-promotion - an amazingly gifted player who remained an unaffected human being".

The midfielder caused shockwaves when he came out of retirement in January – and has since been a regular in the United side, continuing to win praise for his contributions from midfield.

Only Ryan Giggs and Sir Bobby Charlton have made more United appearances, whilst Scholes has also notched up 66 caps for England.

Scholes’ career statistics, following 700th appearance on September 15th 2012

• Scholes has added five goals to his United tally since dusting off his boots and coming out of retirement at the turn of the year, taking his career tally to 155, with a goals-to-game ratio of 0.22 over 700 club appearances.
• The midfielder is most prolific in the League Cup – having hit the net on 9 occasions from 21 outings, averaging 0.43 goals per game.
• The 20 goals scored by Scholes in the 2002/2003 campaign was his biggest goalscoring tally during a single season.
• He’s made the most appearances – 38 – against Chelsea; whilst he has been most prolific to date against Newcastle United with 11 career goals from 28 games.