Scholes scored a big goal for United, putting us 1-0 up just before half-time, although Carrick believes our legendary midfielder has as much to offer away from the pitch as well as on it.

“It was great to see him score and it’s great to have him back for the quality that he brings, not just on the pitch, but from the way he carries himself around the place and for his attitude towards the game,” Carrick told MUTV. “It’s great for the younger players who have come in this season; they can train with him and learn a lot from him just as we have in the past. He’s such a world class player and I’ve learnt so much off him, as well as other players. Being in my position, I’ve watched him a lot and learnt off him and tried to add his attributes to my game. It’s great to have him back and it’s given everyone a lift. I’m sure he’s delighted to come back, the reception he got from the fans was fantastic and I’m sure he’ll look back on it as a special day.”

Paul Scholes’ first shirt number was ’24′, which was registered to him in the 93-94 season and 94-95. In 95-96 he wore the ’22′ shirt, which had been worn by Craig Lawton who had joined Port Vale after breaking his leg. In the 96-97 season, he swapped squad numbers with Simon Davies, who left the club for Luton Town the following season. Scholes played in United’s number ’18′ shirt for fifteen seasons before retiring last summer. Ashley Young now wears this shirt meaning Scholes has returned to ’22′, which had belonged to John O’Shea for the past nine seasons.

Picture from Inna Ivanova

Incredibly, he made more passes than any City player did all game, with a 97% completion rate.

Sir Alex Ferguson has given his reaction to the return of the veteran midfielder.

“The last few weeks, Paul has been training very hard with the reserves and doing a lot of work in the gym,” said Ferguson. “He came to see me and said ‘I regret retiring’. There are no negatives for me. The players have been delighted. I am delighted. The fans are delighted. The last few weeks he has been stepping up his training and been taking part in our training sessions during the week. It is a terrific addition to our squad at a very important part of our season.”

Scholes has claimed another damaging element was the rivalry between United and Liverpool players, with the dislike between them effecting the atmosphere.

“There is a big rivalry between clubs in this country and it isn’t healthy when you go away on international duty,” he said. “When I was with England, there was always a lot of United players and Liverpool players in the squad and it was obvious that some of our lads didn’t like some of their boys and some of their lads didn’t like some of us.”

Paul Scholes, who has been working with our youngsters in his new coaching role, has supported the manager’s assessment, as well as praising Larnell Cole, who made his début against Leeds in the League Cup last week.

“Three excellent players who you’d hope will get a chance in the first team,” he said. “Tunnicliffe’s gone down to Peterborough and has done OK down there. Pogba has got amazing talent. He’s such a big lad for his age. The physique he’s got is unbelievable. I think Will Keane has the capability to be a top-class centre-forward. He’s one of the lads I’ve been working with. He was always someone I liked when I was watching the youth teams. He’s just got a presence about him, he’s a strong lad and has great feet – the ability to strike a ball. The kind of things Van Nistelrooy had. The first time I saw him I thought ‘Jesus Christ’ because he was smashing balls in from anywhere. Keane has the potential to do that. Any others? Larnell Cole. He looks a great prospect. He’s very small but he’s a very clever footballer. He’s similar to Shaun Wright-Phillips but a player who can play inside a bit better than Shaun. Shaun’s an out and out wide man but Larnell can play in a three in midfield.”

Speaking to the Italian media at an awards ceremony at University of Rome Tor Vergata, Sir Alex Ferguson has today claimed that whilst Sneijder is a great player, he’s still not on a level with Paul Scholes, who retired this summer.

At the end of the Champions League final in May, Andres Iniesta was the first to Scholes, asking him to swap shirts. Our manager reckons it is only him, or his team mate Xavi, who would be capable of replacing Scholes.

“Sneijder is not the ideal replacement for Scholes,” said Ferguson. “He’s a fantastic player but he was not who we were looking for to replace Scholes. Only Xavi and Iniesta are comparable to Scholes.”

Congratulations to Jennifer Rix from Bury who has won two tickets to the sold out Paul Scholes’ testimonial tomorrow.

Paul Scholes approached Stretford End Flags about designing a mosaic for his own testimonial. They canvassed United fans’ ideas and from those submitted a design was presented to Paul. The SEF mosaic will go all along North Stand Lower and the 18,000 cards will make up an image of Paul’s face, along with the wording “GENIUS”, with a faint number 18 outlining the IU to reflect Paul’s shirt number. As humble as ever, Paul asked “Genius, where has that come from!”.

The tickets are sold out for tomorrow night’s game against New York Cosmos. RoM is giving away two tickets, three row from the front, later today.