If there was one thing we weren’t expecting this sporting week, it was Manchester United great Nicky Butt professing his supposed love for Gaelic football.

Though it draws thousands to stadiums week-in-week-out across the summer on these shores, Gaelic football has never been the most popular game across the water – understandably, given it is a national game of Ireland.

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However, British audiences have been brought to the game in recent years thanks to Sky’s controversial broadcasting of the All-Ireland championship and, in more recent years, the BBC showing both GAA finals each summer in the UK.

Through those means, Gaelic football has seemingly found its way to Nicky Butt’s heart – though his ex-United teammate Paul Scholes was having absolutely none of it.

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Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt disagree on Gaelic football

Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes have been in hot water in recent weeks for their harsh criticism of the current squad at their former club Manchester United.

However, it was a far more light-hearted clip from their podcast The Good, The Bad & The Football that unexpectedly caught the attention of Irish viewers this week.

Nicky Butt is Gaelic football’s number 1 fan but Paul Scholes isn’t having any of it… 🤣🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/2kcZxMC8BR

— The Good, The Bad & The Football (@goodbadftblpod) January 27, 2026

To round out this week’s episode, host Paddy McGuinness asked the pair to name their top five favourite sports to watch on the telly with a “pack of crisps and a pint of beer.”

Butt’s picks began with football, rugby, and UFC, before he revealed his love for Gaelic football – with Scholes and McGuinness refusing to believe him.

Butt: I like watching the Gaelic football actually.

Scholes: Fuck off!

McGuinness: This is a fucking random…

Butt: I do!

McGuinness: You’re not sitting down at home with a bag of crisps going, ‘Hey, let’s have a look at the Gaelic football!’

Scholes: You’re watching Gaelic football? I’m sorry to all these Irish people but when’s it on telly, Gaelic football?

Butt: It’s on Saturday mornings, so is Aussie Rules as well.

We’re not so sure what Saturday morning Gaelic football Nicky Butt has been watching, especially on British TV.

Scholes would go on to poke more holes in Butt’s alleged love of the GAA.

Scholes: Name me a Gaelic football player.

Butt: I don’t know any!

Scholes: Name me a team.

Butt: Waterford.

Scholes: Waterford what?

Butt: United.

We’re not sure exactly why Waterford were the first Gaelic football county to come to Nicky Butt’s mind, though he was clearly joking when he added a “United” to their name.

There was an Irish connection to Paul Scholes picks too.

Scholes plumped for football, golf, snooker, cricket, and darts, with an individual theme across four of the sports he chose.

He would reveal that Irish hero Rory McIlroy is the reason he continues to watch golf.

“The thing with those sports I’ve chosen…I have to see, it’s people who make me want to watch it,” Scholes said.

“So [Rory] McIlroy made me watch the golf. Maybe if he weren’t playing, I possibly wouldn’t. I’d still watch a lot of golf.

“[Ronnie] O’Sullivan with the snooker, [Luke] Littler with the darts, cricket with Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, and all the entertainment.”

Should he ever appear on Stick to Football, we’d love to see Roy Keane interrogate Nicky Butt on his supposed love for our national sport.

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