Paul Scholes is a Premier League pundit for BT Sports.
However, an extract from a new book, Class of 92: Out of our League – Our Journey Back to the Heart of the Game, suggests that the Manchester United legend doesn’t exactly enjoy watching games from the English top flight.
Scholes is disparaging of the quality on show in the Premier League, compared to the best that the Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A has to offer, and would rather watch Salford City FC, the club where he’s part-owner, or his son’s team Royter Town.
“I don’t find elite football as interesting to watch any more, especially in England,” Scholes says.
“You hear about people saying English football’s the best football there is around. I think Spain’s by far the best league. Germany has better teams. In Italy probably the strength in depth isn’t great. They talk about Italy being a bad league but I don’t think English people look at it. They say it’s boring. No chance. The Juventus team would beat any team in this league.”
“There’s some good players, really good players, but it’s not always the best for quality. In the Premier League in the last two years, have I really seen a game of high quality? A game that I’ve thought: ‘Wow!’ It’s difficult to think of any.”
“There needs to be a real step up in quality in England. Other than Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, we don’t have the best players. All the best players are in other countries.”
While it’s difficult to completely dispute Scholes take on the quality of the Premier League compared to the some of the elite clubs in Europe, the extract gives the sense that Scholes is thoroughly underwhelmed by the division he covers as a pundit, and would rather watch football at any other level.
Or at least at a level where the traffic to and from the match isn’t as heavy.
“I probably do enjoy watching Salford more. I don’t know if it’s as much that I don’t like the hassle of going to the game, getting in, sitting in traffic. Going to Salford, I park up behind the goal and get out of my car. But I genuinely get more enjoyment from watching even my son’s team, Royter Town. It’s like a men’s team, but he’s 16. He started playing a few games for them last season. I went to watch him once, it was 5-4. It’s just entertainment.”
