600 not out for shy guy Scholes

RELUCTANT hero Paul Scholes could join a select band to make 600 appearances for Manchester United tonight — with Alex Ferguson claiming he never had a single enquiry for the midfield maestro.

Only Bill Foulkes, Bobby Charlton and Ryan Giggs have played more often for the Red Devils than Scholes, who made his debut as a 19-year-old against Port Vale in 1994. Since then, Scholes has made an art form of avoiding publicity. There will be no fanfare to mark his latest milestone, or even his retirement should it come, as predicted, in the summer of 2010.

On Sunday at Wembley, no-one even bothered to ask the former England star whether he would stop to offer his observations on the FA Cup semi-final defeat to Everton. The waiting journalists knew what the answer would be, just as Ferguson feels potential suitors knew what response they would get should they have ever asked Scholes to join them.