Paul Scholes came out of Man Utd retirement wearing 'snide' £50 boots on this day

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 8 Jan 2026 02:20 CST
• 3 min read

Nieuws

Following the conclusion of the 2010/11 season, Paul Scholes announced his retirement from Manchester United and his overall playing career.

One of the best midfielders the Premier League had ever seen, Scholes' trophy haul as a United player was looked at with envy by the majority of his peers.

After hanging up his boots, he joined the club's coaching staff and that summer he even had a testimonial against New York Cosmos which the Red Devils won 6-0.

It seemed that coaching couldn't quite scratch Scholes' competitive itch, though, as his desire to return to playing senior football for the club returned.

With Sir Alex Ferguson facing a mini injury crisis in his midfield, he jumped at the chance to bring Scholes back in once his former star asked to return. The return was kept a secret from most, including some United players, but Scholes eventually came out of retirement to feature off the bench in an FA Cup victory against rivals Manchester City.

That happened on this day, 13 years ago.

“I tell you what, within 30 seconds, the manager was on the phone to David Gill to sort the contract out,” Scholes previously told the Utd Podcast.

“It was quick.

“I carried on training with the Reserves for a week or so. The manager said we wouldn’t tell anyone and would keep it a secret. I was due to play for the Reserves against Newcastle on the Tuesday or Wednesday before City, but it got called off.

“Then I trained with the first team the day before the City game, but I still had my coaches' kit on with ‘PS’ on. The manager just said ‘come to the hotel and act as if you are a coach’. I don’t know why he didn’t want to tell anyone, I don’t know why it was a big secret.

“The manager told me to come to the hotel, sit with the coaching staff, just have a glass of red wine and stuff the night before the game.”

The famous £50 boots

Like most pro footballers, Scholes was used to receiving top-of-the-range boots, gear and equipment from Nike. But, for the City game, he famously had to pop to a local sports shop to buy a pair of boots for the comeback in the derby.

“I had to go to the retail park in Oldham to buy a pair of boots, because we couldn’t tell Nike and the coaches’ boots they gave us weren’t great,” he revealed.

“So I had to go and buy a pair for £50 or £60. Everybody knows then. I get to the ground and then my shirt was hanging up. Danny Welbeck was saying ‘I knew it, I knew, I knew you were coming back’.

“I was just embarrassed, thinking ‘is everybody looking at me and thinking what is he doing?’ So I put my boots on and went out for a warm-up. Jonny [Evans] said to me, ‘are they the cheap boots that you’ve bought – you’ve bought the snide ones’.“

Scholes would go on to play for United until May of 2013 when he confirmed his second retirement.

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