Paul Scholes played his 600th game for Manchester United last night. Yet all Early Doors can do is wonder why he is nearly 200 behind Ryan Giggs, who has chugged on to 799.
Whatever ED's landmark-related gripes, there is no doubt that United's older players have contributed enormously to the club, which has rightly treated them well in return.
Nobody would argue that Scholes, Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs are automatic first-team selections or that they are the players they were at their peak. Yet their value remains.
Anderson had a superb game against Portsmouth last night. It is impossible to quantify how much he benefits from Scholes's example - both his attitude and the extraordinary natural ability that allows him to ping 80 yard balls at team-mates taking a leak by the side of the pitch in training and whack them on the back of the head.
Compare that to Arsenal, where players over 30 are treated as damaged goods and begrudgingly offered a one-year contract and a Zimmer frame. Even if they are Dennis Bergkamp.
Watching Denilson get outmuscled against Chelsea and Liverpool, it was impossible not to wonder how much more savvy and steely the Brazilian might be had Patrick Vieira tutored him through the early years of his career.
Despite his penchant for abysmally-timed, leg-breaking tackles, there is nobody more respected by his fellow professionals than Scholes, yet he retains his complete antipathy towards and the perks of being a superstar footballer. Like money.
In 2005 when Rio Ferdinand (recently returned from an eight-month ban for missing a drug test) was haggling over the details of his bumper £100,000-a-week* contract, United quietly got Scholes in and the midfielder duly signed the first piece of paper that was put in front of him.
The problem was, Scholes's deal was worth only £70,000-a-week*. Not a bad wage, admittedly, but over £1 million less than Ferdinand took home every year, and all because Rio is a greedy beggar with a ball-breaking agent.
If it were up to Early Doors, and this statement alone probably proves why it is not, Scholes would always be the highest player at his club.
What better way to reward loyalty than to take the man with no agent, no PR machine and no interest in negotiation and give him £200,000 every week?
Want to get top dollar, Rio? Sack your agent, stop funding violent gangster movies while simultaneously campaigning against knife crime, shut down your preposterous lifestyle magazine and get your bloody head down.
*These figures have been plucked out of a tabloid newspaper at best, or thin air at worst.
Source: Eurosport
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