Paul Scholes says he ‘will never manage again’ as he explains his nightmare stint at Oldham Athletic, who at the time were in turmoil.
The former England and Manchester United player endured a miserable time at Oldham in 2019, before resigning after just a month in charge.
Scholes quit the role having won just one of his seven games, citing interference from controversial club owner Abdallah Lemsagam for his decision to resign.
The 47 year old has also had two spells in caretaker charge of Salford City, the club he co-owns with Class of ’92 members Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville.
But Scholes admits the experience at then-crisis club Oldham, took control of his life and that he would never put himself in that position again.
Scholes said: “It’s hard to describe as a low point, because I quite enjoyed it. There was a low point at the end when the interference came in.
“[Lemsagam] was (trying to pick the team). I had heard so many stories when I was going in, I was told not to do it, that he’s a nightmare and this kind of stuff.
“But I was just determined to give it a go. I love Oldham, I just wanted to give it a go and see what happened. For the first three or four weeks I enjoyed it.
“There was one game we were going to, it was Lincoln away. He pulled me in in the morning, he wanted to see me. The coach was outside the ground, we were ready to go Lincoln who were top of the league and flying, we were going to try and win but it was unlikely.
“He wanted me to leave the captain out. As soon as you say ‘leave anyone out’, I didn’t care who it was, as soon as he said that I had gone already.
“I said ‘no it’s not happening’. He had three phones on his desk and said ‘I’ve got clips of all the mistakes he’s made’. I didn’t care about the clips, I wasn’t interested…
“I couldn’t accept that. I got on the bus and I was fuming. I went the day after, I resigned the day after.”
Oldham manage to stay in the league that season, although they would subsequently be relegated to the National League in 2022 for the first time in their history.
Abdallah Lemsagam would oversee two relegations in four years of ownership, going on to sell the club during the summer.
As well as speaking about post-football life and his brand new state-of-the-art gym in Oldham, Scholes talked about the personal struggles he has faced with his son’s autism, as well as the progression Aidan has made.
“I knew he [Aidan] wasn’t right; it took him ages to walk and by the age of 18-months, he only spoke a few words – when I say words, they were just words that me and Claire could understand. They weren’t proper words and we had to count his words, he had something like 100 words.
“18-months later, he probably had 10 at the most, he just wasn’t using them. He was using actions, he was going to the cupboard to get food out, he wasn’t telling us anything. I was just getting frustrated all the time with it and it was hard as he wasn’t sleeping. He could go right through the night, go to school the day after and not sleep.”
Scholes went on to speak about covering his arms in training because of scratch marks.
“The first time we were playing Derby County away when we just found out,” he said. “It was a waste of time, I didn’t want to be playing, but I wouldn’t tell anyone anything and the manager left me out the day after. I didn’t tell the manager. I told him six months or a year after.
“I don’t know why I told him, there was nothing that could be done differently. I had to cover my arms when I used to go to training because Aiden was scratching and biting. The last five years [he’s been brilliant], he’s so relaxed, so calm, so happy, but for eight or nine years, it was horrific.
“He could be in the back seat and we’re driving and he’s grabbing Claire’s hair, grabbing me and you don’t know why. It’s just frustrating because he probably doesn’t know what he’s doing.
“Now, every single day, every single night, he asks what he’s doing the day after. So, we’ll say ‘school’, so you know that he’s thinking about his routine tomorrow. You tell him school, you tell him if he’s going swimming after school, what he’s going to have to eat.
“He has got a lot better with breaking his routine, and routine for autistic children is massive, but he can cope with it, but when he was younger, he couldn’t cope with it.”
View this post on Instagram
The 47-year-old continued to open up about Aidan’s diagnosis with autism and the massive impact it had on their lives.
“We knew there were problems development-wise with his walk and speech when he was about 18 months to two years and I’ve gone to the doctors in Oldham, and there were all signs about what autism was strangely enough,” he said.
“As soon as I read them, I knew straight away that was what was wrong with him. When I saw those signs, I started Googling stuff, ‘what is autism?’ – I knew all the signs of it. I didn’t need a diagnosis.
“His diagnosis massively impacted all our lives. It’s not a normal lifestyle, because we can’t do things that we’d probably like to do as a family.”
He added: “During my playing days, I couldn’t move away from Aidan, unless he came with me. He’s happy here. He’s happy at school, he’s 17 now and jeopardising his happiness, to take a managerial job, is just not worth it. It was hard from when he was younger and when I found out he had autism, I was still playing.
He also opened up about the progression his son has made that shows there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“I don’t know what the future looks like with Aidan,” Scholes admitted. “He’s got two years left at school, and they’ve been brilliant. He was supposed to go to another building, which is children aged 16-19, but they let him stay in school because he’s happy there. It’s a bit strange taking him to school because he’s in children’s classes, but he is like a one- to two-year-old child. Everyday [he needs care], there’s still toileting problems.”
He added: “I don’t really talk it, I put pictures on Instagram about autism and I think it helps people – that’s why I do that. A lot of people can relate to what we’ve been through, and I put the photo up of Claire doing his hair, it’s so much better now and it shows people that things can change. There’ll be a lot of people with kids like Aidan who are three or four years old, but now he’s got to 16 or 17 you can see that there’s light at the end of the tunnel for him and I get so many messages about it, ‘keep posting, it’s so helpful to us’”.
Arguably the most farcical time came when Paul Scholes stepped up to the Oldham hotseat – and lasted just 31 days.
He admits that issues with the owners caused his quickfire departure.
Speaking to BT Sport in 2019, following his resignation, Scholes spoke about the issues.
He said: “I was a local lad, I was from Oldham. You always think you might be the one person to change it and make it better.
“I heard so many stories and I knew it wouldn’t be an ideal job or the perfect job that I was walking into.
“I knew there was a lot of work to do. They were really good lads who were trying to improve. The facilities weren’t great, but again I knew that.
“There was no hot water at times, I had groundsmen were coming asking ‘can we get money to do this?’ I knew it was a little bit of a mess but I don’t regret it.
“It’s not put me off, because I’d say 90 per cent of it I really enjoyed.
“But I’d heard loads of stories about interference and the first three weeks there was little bits of it.
“It wasn’t so much ‘leave that player out’ or ‘he can’t play’ – there was nothing like that, just subtle hints.
“In the last week there was a couple of issues with experienced professionals that I felt they didn’t deserve to be treated the way the club wanted to treat them.
“I respected the players but once I get told ‘don’t play him’ then that’s when it’s time to go.”
On the 12th of October 2020, Scholes was appointed interim head coach of Salford City, following the departure of Graham Alexander.
Scholes’ first game in charge was a 1–0 defeat to Port Vale in October, and he quickly ruled out taking the position on a permanent basis, citing the need for a more experienced manager.
His first win came three days later with a 3–0 win against struggling Southend United, and then left the role on the 4th of November 2020, following the permanent appointment of Richie Wellens to the post.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login