PAUL SCHOLES has revealed he quit his TNT Sports role to spend time with his non-verbal autistic son Aiden.
Scholes takes care of his 20-year-old son three nights a week which meant he had to limit his TV work.
Scholes has three children with wife Claire, with whom he is no longer together – Arron, 25, Alicia, 24, and Aiden.
The former Manchester United star has been able to step up his appearances on The Overlap’s Stick to Football this season.
He has filled the role made vacant by Jamie Carragher.
And Scholes has revealed it works better for him and his son Aiden, who he is now spending more time with.
Last season Scholes would work Thursday nights covering United’s Europa League campaign for TNT Sports.
It would leave his son agitated, so the former midfielder took the decision to step back.
He said on Stick to Football: “I made a decision this year because of Aiden, obviously due to his special needs you might know about.
“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.
“Everything I’m going to do now just works around him, I do studio work, but everything is built around his day.
“Last season on Thursday nights I’d do the Europa League for Man Utd, 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.”
The Red Devils legend also opened up on his split from his childhood sweetheart and explained how their co-parenting works caring for Aiden.
In 2021, he opened up on the challenges of having an autistic son during a BBC documentary hosted by Paddy McGuinness.
Speaking to McGuinness, who has three autistic children, Scholes said: “For those first few years of being diagnosed you think he’s just delayed, eventually he’ll start talking.
“When you get to 12, 13, 14… now he’s 16 it’s never going to happen. He’s never going to be neurotypical, but he’s great and you have to accept it.”
Scholes added: “I’ve never said this before. I’m looking at him thinking he might have to go into care. I just don’t know how you handle that.”
During the chat, Scholes also revealed that Aiden’s initial diagnosis affected his performances on the pitch.
The Man Utd legend said: “We got the diagnosis. We were playing Derby away. I was terrible, absolutely shocking.
“I didn’t want to be there. Head was gone. I was worrying about autism, reading, trying to find out anything I could.”
Scholes is currently involved in a podcast, The Good, The Bad and The Football, alongside ex-Man Utd team-mate Nicky Butt and the aforementioned McGuinness.
