Fergie's fledgling has earned his Wings

Lee Martin played with Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs during his formative years at Manchester United.

- CHRIS DUNLAVY

But there's one player who stands head and shoulders above even those greats of the modern game.

"Paul Scholes was by far the best," says the 38-year-old, who made three senior appearances for the Red Devils under Sir Alex Ferguson.

"He was just a magician. He wasn't the quickest. He didn't have ridiculous acceleration. He wasn't that strong. But even in training, you'd try to get near him and it was impossible. He was two, three, four steps ahead up top.

"As a youngster, I could run further than most. I could get around the pitch better than anyone. I looked at Scholesy and thought 'Okay, I'll just stick tight and I'll outwork you'.

"But he'd anticipate every move I made. Every time you tried to get tight, he'd pop the ball off before you got there. And the one time you were a fraction late, he'd get on the half-turn and hit a 60-yard diagonal to feet. All you could do was stand there applauding.

"It was probably the biggest lesson I ever had that brainpower beats everything in football. Any player can be quick or physical. What separates the real elite is that football IQ, when you're seeing the detail and making good decisions in fractions of seconds. Scholesy did that better than anyone.

"And that was before you even start talking about his technical skills - the shooting ability and the range, distance and variety of his passing. He was just phenomenal, the best footballer I've ever seen in the flesh."

Martin's own Old Trafford career ended in 2009 when he made a £1.5m move to Ipswich. Sixteen years and ten clubs later, he has finally called it a day after winning one last promotion with Ramsgate.

Now, like so many of Fergie's fledglings, the Taunton-born winger has headed for the dugout and will next season take his first steps in management with a Welling United side freshly relegated from National League South.