Source: Telegraph
Manchester United's Paul Scholes can't wait to hang up his boots and play cricket
In comparison to three nights in a Rome hotel and the likelihood of a place on Manchester United's substitutes' bench during the Champions League final against Barcelona, it is Scholes's idea of paradise.
Bitten by the horse racing bug and with teenage memories of leather crashing against willow gnawing away at him, the 34-year-old seems content to press the fast forward button on the next 12 months when, barring a miracle cure for dodgy knees and a reversal of the clocks, Scholes will bring the curtain down on one of Old Trafford's legendary careers.
"I'd love to play cricket again when I finish." Scholes admits. "I used to play for Middleton and Blackley, who had a tiny ground which was fantastic to play on. I really enjoyed it.
"I don't think [my wife] Claire will be too happy if I go from this to playing cricket, though! I'll probably be somewhere with the kids on Saturday and Sunday afternoons." There is a supporters' banner that follows United around the world which reads "United-kids-wife... in that order!' It will not have emerged from the Scholes household.
When we meet at United's Carrington training ground at 9am on a rain-soaked Tuesday morning, Scholes has already done the school run with Arron (9) and Alicia (8) before navigating the M60 at rush-hour to report for training.
When retirement comes for the former England midfielder, he will not fall into the black hole that consumes many footballers, who find they simply cannot fill the blank canvas that lies in front of them when they leave the game.
Scholes has plans. The family, some coaching and, hopefully, management. And plenty of time with the horses.
He said: "I've got four horses. I really enjoy the horse-racing and I have done for years, but I only really got involved when I had my bad eye in 2006.
"I had four months off, so I went around looking at a few things and I decided to buy a couple of horses.
"I have one called Moscow Eight with a few mates who went to Moscow last year. It has won a couple and he's due to race again in a couple of weeks.
"Moscow Eight is now at Michael Owen's yard and I also share two with Nicky Butt and one with Michael and Nicky.
"This year has been so chaotic that I've not had much chance to see them race. We managed to get to Chester races after we beat Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final, though, and that was great.
"What's the appeal? I just like to see the horses, watching them train, seeing how they go."
He added: "I wouldn't rule out management, though. Let's see how the coaching goes first, but I would like to be a manager one day. "I think I could put up with the demands that it brings. I want to spend more time with the family first, though, because this year has been worse than ever in terms of being away."
Having unexpectedly called time on his England career at just 29 following an unfulfilling Euro 2004, Scholes has form for making a decision and sticking with it.
Steve McClaren and current England manager Fabio Capello both attempted to cajole Scholes into a U-turn, but their pleas were politely brushed off. Sir Alex Ferguson concedes that Scholes is "stubborn" and, having suggested last summer that he will walk away from United at the end of the 2009-10 season, the man himself admits that this campaign has done little to force him into a rethink.
He said: "I'd have thought that next season will probably be my last year. I have one year left on my contract, but this year hasn't been great and whether it will get any better next year, I don't know. I've had a knee injury again this season. I seem to get a three-month knee injury every season now.
"It sets you back and I haven't contributed as much as I would have liked to have done. I get pain in my knees most days and I definitely feel my age. The eye problem is still there, but I have probably become totally used to it now and that's not an issue.
"But I've dipped in and out of the team this season and really struggled, to be honest, playing one game every 10 days.
"Some people adapt to that and some enjoy it, but I don't think it has worked for me. It's hard to keep yourself fit when you don't play every week."
Last season's Champions League final victory against Chelsea in Moscow ended Scholes's nine-year wait for a winners' medal in Europe's premier competition after suspension forced him to miss the 1999 success against Bayern Munich.
Another winners' medal in Rome will take his personal haul to 17 major trophies. With the exception of the Uefa Cup, in which he scored his first European goal against Rotor Volgograd in 1995, Scholes has the full set.
He has scored 142 goals in 604 appearances and so, quite legitimately, has his own page in the 'Legends' section of United's official website, a distinction he cannot fathom.
Scholes said: "When I finish, I might look back and think, â Yeah, I did alright, I played a lot of games and w on a lot of trophies.' I've been lucky to do that, but I'll never, ever think that I'm at the same level as the likes of Mark Hughes and Bryan Robson.
"Sparky and Bryan were my heroes, more so Robbo, and I still feel that when I see him around the club now. I loved him playing for United and England.
"People automatically think I'm an Oldham fan, but I have always been United. My dad took me to a few games, but it was always really hard to get tickets for Old Trafford. He was an Oldham fan so, from the age of nine or ten, he started to take me to Boundary Park because we could get in!
"I actually left Oldham's School of Excellence to sign for United when I was 14. I didn't enjoy it at Oldham, so when Brian Kidd came to watch me and asked if I'd go down to United, there was only one answer really.
"I've played for a great club that I always wanted to play for and won a lot of medals. I don't count 1999, so it'd be great to win a second Champions League medal on Wednesday. Barcelona are a great team, though, so it won't be easy." Twenty years at Old Trafford is some run by anybody's standards and Scholes's place in the club's history books is assured, despite his modest view on his status, but it might never have happened at all had he taken another path as a teenager and become Paul Scholes, lacrosse star!
"I played one game and it was the worst thing ever! I hated it." Scholes admits. "I had a mate who was really into it, so I agreed to play one day at Rochdale cricket club when they were short.
"It was horrible and I didn't enjoy it one little bit. You think you've got a chance of having a shot and somebody is allowed to come in and belt you on your shoulders! Not for me!"
