Paul Scholes has revealed that his decision to step back from television punditry was based on wanting to care for his 20-year-old autistic son Aiden, with the Manchester United legend opening up on the challenges and rewards of looking after him in an emotional new interview.
Like many of his former Man United team-mates, Scholes has been a former player in-demand since his retirement in 2013.
The 50-year-old was previously a frequent fixture on television coverage of domestic and European matches, but this season has stepped away from his live broadcasting responsibilities to focus on podcasting.
But aside from ‘hating’ media appearances, as Scholes told his old team-mate Gary Neville on the Stick to Football podcast, sponsored by Arne, the former midfielder gave up the majority of his television work in order to build a routine with Aiden, who is non-verbal and was diagnosed with ‘severe autism’, in Scholes’ words, at the age of two-and-a-half.
‘All the work I do now is just around his routines, ‘cos he has quite a strict routine every single day, so I just decided everything I’m going to do, it is around Aiden,’ Scholes told Neville and his co-hosts.
Sharing that he has separated from his childhood sweetheart Claire Froggatt, who he married in 1999, Scholes shared that Aiden’s parents have ‘three nights each’ with him a week, with their son spending Friday night with Froggatt’s mother.
‘We always do the same things with him as he doesn’t know what day of the week it is or time. But he’ll know from what we’re doing what day it is,’ Scholes continued.
‘I pick him up every Tuesday from his daycare and we go swimming. Loves swimming then we get his pizza on the way home. Thursday pick him up, go for something to eat, go home.
‘Sunday, I pick him up from Claire’s house and we go to Tesco where he buys a trolley full of chocolate. So, he doesn’t know what day or time it is, but he knows from what we’re doing what day it is. He’ll be 21 in December.’
Discussing his diagnosis, Scholes continued: ‘When I say he can’t speak, I think he understands a lot more than we think.
‘He has sounds, but it’s only people that are close to him that will know what he’s saying.’
But Scholes has found it rewarding to share small snapshots of his life with Aiden on social media, having heard from parents who have similar experiences with their children that it can ‘help’ in difficult moments.
Scholes – who shares three children with Froggatt – explained that it had been the hardest in the early days of his diagnosis, with the player often turning up for training at Carrington with bite marks or scratch marks which Aiden had given his father out of the frustration of not being understood.
‘I never got a break from it, even when playing,’ Scholes added. ‘It was very hard in those days, feels like it was years ago.
‘I don’t think (doctors) diagnosed it until they were two-and-a-half years old. But you knew early something was wrong but then you get the diagnosis, and I’d never heard of it. Then all of a sudden you start seeing everything, I don’t know if it just consciously happens, I don’t know.
‘I remember the first time after we were playing Derby away and I just didn’t want to be there. I remember the manager dropped me the week after actually, and I hadn’t told anyone (about the diagnosis). I ended up telling them a few weeks later, I think as it was quite hard.’
Scholes however remained adamant that he does not want ‘sympathy’ for his experiences, but stressed that he is still concerned about what could happen to his son when neither he nor Froggatt are around.
‘Don’t get me wrong, he can be so happy it’s untrue, and it gives you great pleasure and joy, it’s not all bad,’ Scholes reassured his co-hosts.
But the former player went on to share a heartbreaking story about Aiden suffering from toothache and being unable to explain his pain.
For now, Scholes explained, he is content to make Aiden’s needs the centre of his world, with his working life only fitting in where it can.
The launch of his new podcast with former team-mate Nicky Butt, The Good, The Bad & The Football has further allowed him to focus on his son.
‘I do studio work, but everything is built around his day,’ Scholes confirmed. ‘Last season on Thursday nights I’d do the Europa League for Man United, that’s the night I’d usually have him, so he was getting all agitated, biting and scratching.
‘He knows the pattern’s not there straight away. And I did that for years really, always thinking I’ve got to stop this at some point so I had the chance to do the podcast and I thought that would suit me more, well not me, Aiden.’
