Alex Ferguson: Paul Scholes Is History in Old Trafford's New, Bigger Picture

There will be no “new” Paul Scholes at Old Trafford next season. There may well be a Wesley Sneijder, or a Luka Modric or a Jack Rodwell. None of the midfielders that will be brought in as part of an expected $150M transfer splurge will be the reincarnation of the Ginger Prince because there could only ever be one of him, just as there could never be another Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona or Roy Keane.

There will, however, be a new Sir Alex Ferguson, just as there has been every year.

He will, of course, appear to be his old, caricature self. He will be gum–chewing, clock-watching, clad in that old- fashioned black car coat of his—a fashionista he is not—and he will still offer that same, self conscious, fist-clenched wave of his when Manchester United score important goals or win crucial games. Referees, as ever, will get it in the neck if he thinks they got it wrong and the FA can go whistle.

 But he will still be different. Inside. For in the summer months—make that weeks because he does not  like being away from his fiefdom any longer than he has to be—he will do as he has always done during the holiday break and reconstruct himself from within. The process is one of the single most important reasons why, even at the age of 69, he stays ahead of the game.

The song can never remain the same with him for he knows that change, or the challenge of change, is what keeps him young, what keeps him vibrant and alert, what keeps his team at the top.

By the time he gets back behind his desk he will have examined and re-examined what the requirements are to progress, to develop, to transcend what has gone before. He will have analysed his own past actions and his future plans. Ferguson asks hard questions of his players; he asks even harder ones of himself.

As always, he will holiday in the South of France, indulging in vintages of his beloved red wines - he happens to have one of the best cellars in England and his knowledge of the finest that Bordeaux or Burgundy can offer is encyclopedic. He will not, however, only be testing his palate but testing himself, his hunger, his desire,  as he puts the pieces of a new puzzle together...

Remember his expression during the second half decimation by Barcelona at Wembley? It was impassive. There was no anger there, far less hope, only poker-faced resignation. What he had feared, what he secretly believed but could not say out loud beforehand, had come to pass. Michael Carrick, Park Ji-Sung, the venerable Ryan Giggs and even belatedly old father Scholes, were not on the same planet as Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta although few groups of players, ever, have played the Beautiful Game the way that they do.

He had feared the worst—no matter what he may have pretended—and it turned out to be even worse than he had secretly imagined.

And so the Plan A for the future that he might have had in that Machiavellian mind of his may well have become Plan B, C, D or F even by the final whistle. There were going to be changes, anyway, no matter the outcome. The changes, now, will only be more dramatic and profound.

The challenge, having made United the record title holders of England, is not simply to equal but to surpass Pep Guardiola’s team, in terms of art, especially. And so a Sneijder or a Modric or a Rodwell will arrive and they will be encouraged to be themselves, of course, but they will still only be part of Ferguson’s bigger picture. He is a manager who does not paint by numbers but, like the Renaissance Man that he is, by inspiration and planning and supreme football intellect.

There cannot be a new Scholes because that was then and this is now and the mould is broken. Ferguson does not live in the past although sometimes, as he proved by winning his twelfth Premier League title with a team half full of wrinklies, he has the power to hold back time a little.

Now there will be new signings, a new team, a new philosophy. All imagined and put together by Ferguson as, chameleon-like, he again adapts himself to his new surroundings and creates a new future.