Scholes Blasts England

Paul Scholes has lambasted the England national team, insisting it is "laughable" to even consider them contenders for World Cups because many of the squad are only playing to "get to a top club".

Scholes earned 66 caps for England, but he retired from the international scene seven years before he quitting club football with Manchester United, a decision largely put down to the fact he was often shunted out to the left side of a diamond to accommodate Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. Scholes never offered any complaints at the time of his exit, merely stating that he wanted to prolong his club career whilst spending more time with his family. However, he has now issued an alarming critique of the England setup, insisting they will never win anything with their current mentality.

"Playing on the left was never a problem. I played on the left for United I don't know how many times," Scholes said. "I just got fed up. When you are going to a team, you want to be part of a team and play well, but there are individuals who are after personal glory.

"I always felt when I first started with England that players - especially players at clubs like your Aston Villas - try to use England as a way to get to a top club. You feel, are they there for the right reason?

"I think they are very selfish people. They are all there to get their bit of glory, their bit of headlines, to think 'I will get a move from this'. I think that is the biggest problem with English players."

Scholes even shed light on the opinions of his Manchester United colleagues, revealing they are all losing their patience with certain individuals in Fabio Capello's squad.

"It was a frustration for us United lads. When there is a simple pass of ten yards, they might try and smack it 80 yards. They will do things to try and get themselves noticed.

"If you look at the Spain team now, they all seem to play for each other. There isn't one of them who would try to do something in a game that doesn't suit the team, and that could happen over here. If you look through our teams, there are loads of technically brilliant players but for some reason when we go on to the international scene, we don't look like that.

"We're the favourites every time and we probably will be next time. I think it is quite laughable. It is just the mentality of English people, we think we are going to win everything."