Scholes Hails Carrington

Paul Scholes has paid tribute to the facilities at Carrington - even though he misses The Cliff.

The United coach speaks at length about the inner workings of the training complex during an exclusive MUTV programme - Inside Carrington - which is screened on Tuesday evening.

Scholes also reveals one of the biggest changes in the past 10-15 years has been the way in which injured players quickly begin their rehabilitation.

"Carrington is a big improvement," said Scholes. "Don't get me wrong. I absolutely loved The Cliff. It's full of history and I lived about 15 minutes away.

"It had great pitches and I used to love playing there for the 'A' team on Saturday mornings. You'd get quite a few fans in watching it and I absolutely loved the place but you have to move with the times. We came to this place and I think everybody liked it from the word go. Everything can be done here that is needed to support a football team.

"Having the Academy here is great and it's all geared towards a family feel and I'm sure that's the way the manager wants it."

Players are able to maintain their fitness when injured, even after operations, due to the high-tech facilities at Carrington.

"A big change is, when you were injured 10-15 years ago, you had treatment and sat around," he added. "Now you're on bikes and using all the different equipment in the gym.

"It's hard work but for a reason. Once you get back, you need to get going again and your fitness levels definitely need to be up there. There's no getting away with anything when you're injured now so it's the right thing. At one time, when you were injured, you did nothing, no exercise, because people thought you couldn't do it. But you've got all these bikes here now and, even if you've had operations, two days afterwards, you can be on one of them.

"You don't get a chance to lose so much fitness. The more you do that, the quicker you'll recover and be ready to play. So everything has progressed from The Cliff in a good way."