Paul Scholes took aim at Manchester United after their recent defeat at Newcastle (Picture: YouTube)
Paul Scholes has insisted he did not mean to offend his former team-mate Michael Carrick after a social media barb aimed at the Manchester United head coach on Wednesday night.
Scholes posted that “Michael has definitely got something special about him, (because) United have been c*** last four games,” shortly after United lost 2-1 at Newcastle.
Despite the loss, the first since Carrick replaced Ruben Amorim, United sit third in the Premier League and are challenging for Champions League qualification.
And responding to criticism of his comment, Scholes, speaking on the GoodBadFootball podcast, said: ‘Michael is one of the nicest people you will ever meet in football – he’d be the last person I would want to offend.
‘I messaged Michael anyway. I went straight to Michael and said, ‘Look, I never intended to upset you.’ And I don’t think I needed to say that anyway, and he told me himself he wasn’t upset by it.
‘I think people have just took it differently from what was meant. The only thing I was saying was that I don’t think they played that well the last four games, and he’s still managing to get results.’
Scholes’ comments were criticised by another former United player, Patrice Evra, who also took aim at perceived negativity from fellow pundits Roy Keane and Gary Neville.
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Scholes after Man Utd’s defeat (Picture: Instagram)
‘It annoys me because we want to be in the top four, and those comments are unnecessary, but this is what you do when you work in TV.’ said Evra. ‘You can’t be positive, you have to be negative.’
Another United stalwart, who played alongside Carrick and Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, meanwhile, confirmed he had been in touch with the 51-year-old and clarified there was no animosity between the pair.
‘Everyone was saying is Scholesy drunk has he had a few too many to drink, Ferdinand said when referring to the incident on his Rio Presents YouTube channel.
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‘I actually texted him and said ‘what’s going on?’ But Scholesy is Scholesy. He said ‘listen I said he’s special but we have been rubbish the last four games’.
‘And he isn’t wrong. We have been rubbish the last four games in terms of performance. It hasn’t been top, I wouldn’t say rubbish. It hasn’t been oh my god I’m going to pay to watch that against next week, it’s been flat.
‘People are going ‘I thought he was his teammate, I thought he’d support him a bit more. Did he need to say that?’ Those are obviously the questions people are asking if there a bit of beef between them?
Newcastle beat Man Utd 2-1 at St James’ Park (Picture: Getty)
‘Listen, there’s not beef between them two. They’re two really placid, calm guys. Carra has the upmost respect for Scholesy and Scholesy the same.
‘It was just interpreted differently to the way Scholesy meant it to come across.
‘He’s just being honest and brutal. One thing I’d say abouut him, he didn’t say much in the changing room but when he did it was normally a cutting comment so I’m not surprised he is how he is as a pundit right now.’
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