UK Edition
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer invites Paul Scholes to coach at Man Utd – but he will not be joining first team staff
Paul Scholes has been given an open invitation to do some coaching at Manchester United following his resignation as Oldham Athletic manager - but will not be joining Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first team staff.
Scholes quit the League Two club on Thursday after just 31 days in charge after tiring of interference from owner Abdallah Lemsagam, who hit back at claims of meddling on Friday by saying he “gave Paul all the support and autonomy that he asked for”.
Solskjaer and Scholes played together for 11 years at Old Trafford and United’s caretaker manager said he would welcome his former team-mate at Carrington, although any coaching work he opted to undertake would be largely confined to the academy teams.
Solskjaer already has four assistants in Mike Phelan, Michael Carrick, Kieran McKenna and Mark Dempsey and is not looking to expand that group.
“He's invited here if he wants to come and have a little chat about it. We've texted and it didn't work out, that's just management,” said Solskjaer, who registered no surprise at Scholes’s premature exit amid talk of interference at board level.
“You see ex-players coming in and if they want to learn, if they want to stay for a few days, a week… Kieran, Michael, Demps and even in the academy, there’s so many good coaches, and I know when I was away that I would have loved to come in and maybe do some study visits but I had work so I didn’t get the chance to do it.”
Scholes said in his Oldham leaving statement that it “became clear that I would not be able to operate as I intended and was led to believe prior to taking on the role”.
It has been alleged that Scholes received emails from the owner and his brother, Mohamed, Oldham’s sporting director, telling him who he should play, that players were promised deals behind Scholes’s back and that one player was told not to turn up for training without the manager’s knowledge.
But Lemsagam refuted suggestions of interference, claiming Scholes never raised any concerns, formally or informally, and said the former United and England midfielder resigned by text message on Wednesday afternoon and then could not be contacted to discuss his decision.
“Both myself and the staff at the club gave Paul all the support and autonomy that he asked for,” Lemsagam said. “I personally was always supportive of any decisions Paul made or consulted me on reassuring him that he was the man in charge. He did not raise any concerns at all about the team or any other matters informally or formally, prior to his resignation. He gave no opportunity or indications that he needed to address any issues at all.”