'I know there isn't much time left so I have to enjoy it'

GRAND SLAM SUNDAY

In an exclusive interview, Paul Scholes reveals why he turned his back on England, life with Sir Alex and the possibility of leaving Old Trafford for Oldham

The table in reception at Manchester United's training ground is festooned with copies of the official players' union magazine, full of glossy advertisements for Aston Martin, 5,000 Swiss watches and "the most exclusive penthouses the world has ever seen" in Dubai Marina. The advertisers clearly feel they know their market. Paul Scholes - family man, drives an Audi, lives on Saddleworth Moor and dislikes the sun - must cause a certain scratching of heads.

In a rare interview before Euro 2004 - all Scholes interviews have rarity value - he was asked what constituted an ideal day for him. The answer, in a matter-of-fact Oldham drawl, was: "Train in the morning, pick up the kids from school, play with them, have tea, get them to bed and then watch a bit of TV."

The only thing that has changed in the subsequent four years is that there is now an extra little boy to amuse and, professionally, he is no longer available to England.

He made that decision in the wake of the Portugal tournament, when a beating sun on ginger hair aggravated his asthma and he was substituted in every game. "England have lost their best player," George Best said at the time.

So once this afternoon's key Premier League game at home to Liverpool is over, he can be first out of the door and home for tea and bathtime instead of rushing south to join up with Fabio Capello's squad.

"I've felt the benefit the last couple of years," Scholes says of his self-imposed international exile. "I can spend more time at home, which helps. When England play, you get a couple of days off and it's always nice to get that bit of relaxation. At some stage you have to put your feet up. When you're with England you maybe don't get as much chance as I do now."

Whether Capello would have been any more successful than Sven Goran Eriksson in integrating him into the midfield with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole is a moot point, but a 20- minute cameo against Bolton last Wednesday reminded everyone why the manager might have liked the chance.

Brought on with Wayne Rooney in a double substitution designed to demoralise any opposition, Scholes gave a classic display of passing and moving, collecting the ball off United's back four, controlling it and then spreading it either far and wide or short and simple, but always to a red shirt.

The comfortable 2-0 victory enabled United to establish a stretch of clear blue water at the head of the Premier League for the first time since Boxing Day. Not that anyone at the club regards a three- point advantage over Arsenal as more than a pleasant bonus. "It is definitely a three-horse race, and there's a question of whether it could be four," Scholes says, adding today's opponents into the equation. "Liverpool haven't had a great Premiership season so you haven't really looked at them. They might be 11 points behind us but if they could beat us, they could be right back in it. Three weeks ago, Arsenal were five points clear, so it shows how quickly it can turn around."

Familiar names, familiar foes. Since the season of his first- team debut in 1994, the Blackburns and Newcastles have had little more than a year or two in the limelight while the fab four have fought for the title, and one fixture has stuck out: "Maybe over the past few years, Arsenal and Chelsea have been bigger in terms of going for the League, but overall through history, Liverpool is definitely the biggest game. It always was, right down to when you were playing on Saturday morning in the B team or the Under-16s; it was always special playing Liverpool and trying to beat them."

Gerrard also makes reference to those youth games in his autobiography (as well as "some right kicking matches with Wes Brown") and speaks of the "vitriol" and "poison" from United fans these days. Yet he admits to being disarmed when introduced to United players on his first England call-up: "Almost 20 years of being conditioned to hate Man U went up in smoke. There I was shaking hands with Beckham and Scholes. They were brilliant at putting the new boy at ease."

Gerrard might even have blushed at hearing Scholes' comments about his new role as second striker just behind Fernando Torres: "Playing a bit further forward, he's made a big difference. I think it makes good use of his strengths, he's a strong runner and good passer of the ball so they seem to have settled on that, playing two holding midfielders and let Steven get on with it.

"Probably for the last few years, since Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler, they'd lacked a goalscorer. But Torres has scored goals, in his first season as well. Foreigners have struggled to adapt but he hasn't at all, with Steven helping him." So any hack across the shins from Scholes this afternoon will be entirely due to his famed lack of timing in the tackle. Probably.