Paul Scholes has disappeared from the world of football for a long time. After retiring in 2011, he briefly trained at the Manchester United junior team before finally returning to play in January 2012. He retired for the second time at the end of the 2012/13 season.
The next Scholes activity focused more on the camera as the committee for Sky Sport, BT Sport, and The Independent. He is not the type of player who wants to spend the rest of his life as a coach.
However, he changed his mind in recent years. He is a fanatical fan of League Two club, Oldham Athletic. In order to work at the club, he was willing to complete a training course. His steps to become Oldham’s coach were actually not smooth because he was one of the owners of Salford City, a Conference National club, one caste lower than Oldham.
He had previously been rumored to be training Oldham in 2017. However, his desire was only accomplished in 2019. The Latics announced Paul Scholes would be a tactician on 11 February 2019.
His debut, which was a day later, lasted well. He took Oldham to beat Yeovil Town with a score of 4-1. Unfortunately, Scholes was unable to maintain his touch. In the next six games, Oldham never won with only three draws and three defeats.
In the end, Scholes made a surprising decision. On March 14, he announced his resignation only 31 days after starting his work.
Getting throwback on February 16, in the second match against Crewe, Oldham was forced to draw due to the equalizing goal of the opponent in extra time. Scholes was as always standing and looking stressed on the edge of the field.
After the match, he was asked by reporters whether he was surprised for the match and why he threw himself into a work that caused stress when he should live comfortably without lack of money. Scholes replied, “Of course, all the time.”
Well, that is the type of answer that he gave. Most retirees like Scholes were too comfortable giving opinions about a weekend match to viewers in a television studio. That situation also caused England did not have many good coaches.
However, if you look at Scholes’ explanation when he resigned, it seemed that he could not freely carry out his work. “Unfortunately, it became clear that I would not be able to operate the team the way I wanted.”
Does Scholes feel intervened? BBC Sport suspected this. The club’s owner, Abdallah Lemasagam, often interacted with the main players. Scholes believed that this was his authority which could not be interrupted by other figures, even the club president.
Being a club president at the level of Second League is not so fancy. Lemsagam controls the club to the smallest detail. He talked a lot with subordinates, ranging from ordinary staff, cleaning staff, to kitchen staff. He communicated a lot with everyone, including the players. Unfortunately, for Scholes, the players should be under his control.
Previous trainers, Richie Wellens, and Frankie Bunn, also experienced the same thing. But for Scholes, who had worked in the highest level of football for over two decades, considered Lemsagam’s habit was intolerable.
He chose to leave. He told Lemsagam that he would resign via Whatsapp do not want to communicate again. He did not answer Lemsagam’s telephone call. He soon realized, his dream of training Oldham was a nightmare.
