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'Scholes hated England duty,' says Man United coach Mick Clegg

  /  autty

Paul Scholes 'hated' playing for England but was worried about the reaction he would get from the rest of the country if he quit and put Manchester United first.

The midfielder confessed all to Mick Clegg in 2004, with the United coach telling him he was being 'bullied into doing something against his own instincts.'

Not long after their conversation Scholes announced he was quitting international football to spend more time with his family and concentrate on his club career.

Clegg, currently United's strength and power development coach, has recalled their conversations over a cup of tea in his new book, The Power and the Glory.

'I had a kettle in the gym so that I didn't have to keep nipping up to the canteen for a brew,' he writes.

'Scholsey was always telling me to put the kettle on and one day we were having a chat about the Euros that summer. He said he hated playing for England, which came as a bit of a shock.

'I asked him why he kept turning up and he said "well it's England, that's what you have to do."

'Paul was worried about the reaction he would get from the rest of the country if he stopped playing for England.

'I asked him if he'd ever felt the same way playing for his school team or with his mates or for United - and he said that was different. He loved that.

'I told him that he was being bullied into doing something that went against his own instincts.

'Not long afterwards, he packed in international football. Was it down to our chat? I don't know because we never spoke about it again.

'I know he didn't like being away from home. He was always a family man and he didn't want to be away from his wife and kids.

'If you go away with England and you're not happy then you're not going to perform at your best on the pitch.'

Scholes nonethless gave his all for England, scoring 14 times in 66 appearances for his country between 1997 and 2004.

He played at four major tournaments before informing manager Sven-Goran Eriksson in August 2004 that he no longer wished to be considered for selection.

Eriksson nor Glenn Hoddle or Kevin Keegan were able to get as much out of Scholes in international football as Sir Alex Ferguson did at Old Trafford.