Kidd: How Scholes Signed

Brian Kidd reveals how Paul Scholes came to sign for United.

"When I was working at the FA in the late 1980s, I put on a course at Middleton sports centre and they kindly said I could run a five-a-side tournament, which was terrific for the local kids. Up popped Scholesy with his pals from Cardinal Langley. They had a team in it and that was the first time I saw him.

"Out of the five of them, three of the lads came to the centre of excellence: Scholesy, Dean Kirby and Paul O’Keefe. Scholesy was no size, but the ability he had was unbelievable. His awareness and his touch… what a technician, even at that tender age.

"When Sir Alex invited me back to do the local development scene at United, I was over the moon to be given the chance. I had a look through and Scholesy’s name was nowhere to be seen, so when I made enquiries I found out he was at Oldham Athletic. To be fair to Latics, they had a terrific, vibrant youth setup at the time, with really good kids there.

"We made contact through the proper channels, to see if Paul would consider coming down and having a look at what we had to offer at Manchester United.

"I met his mum and dad and had a chat with them, not taking anything for granted because you’re brought up at Manchester United not to get above our station. I asked if they’d consider having a look at what we’d got to offer and that’s how it all began.

"Paul came down with his mum and dad, he must’ve enjoyed it but he couldn’t sign for us because he was a November birthday and he couldn’t sign until the next May.

"We didn’t want to turn any young player’s head: we wanted them to come to Manchester United for the right reasons, so I said to Paul to continue to go to Latics and do his training on Tuesdays and Thursdays, not to sour his relationship in any way with them, and we didn’t want to do anything untoward.

"The window came that gave kids the opportunity to sign for another club if they hadn’t signed a schoolboy form anywhere, and, in the May, he joined us.

"When he came down, everyone looked at Scholesy’s size and, having not seen a lot of him, there was a bit of doubt. But he didn’t take long to show everyone how good he was. And what a career he went on to have.

"As far as I’m concerned, Scholesy is a genius. He's a legend and an icon at Manchester United and in the world of football."

Brian Kidd was speaking to Steve Bartram in an exclusive interview for ManUtd.com and the official Paul Scholes testimonial programme.