Thursday, October 30, 2025 - Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has revealed he quit his TNT Sports punditry role to dedicate more time to caring for his non-verbal autistic son, Aiden.
The 49-year-old football icon, who has since become a
regular face on The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast, said his decision was
driven by Aiden’s strict daily routine and the need to prioritise his
well-being.
Scholes explained that he now takes care of Aiden, 20, three
nights a week and has reorganised all his work commitments around his son’s
schedule.
“I made a decision this year because of Aiden, obviously due
to his special needs,” Scholes said on Stick to Football. “All the work I do
now is just around his routines because he has quite a strict routine every
single day. I just decided everything I’m going to do is around Aiden.”
The former midfielder revealed that his previous Thursday
night coverage of Manchester United’s Europa League games for TNT Sports had
become disruptive to Aiden’s routine, leaving him “agitated, biting, and
scratching” whenever his father was away.
“Last season on Thursday nights I’d do the Europa League for
Man Utd that’s the night I’d usually have him,” he said. “He knows
the pattern’s not there straight away. I did that for years, always thinking
I’ve got to stop this at some point, so I had the chance to do the podcast and
thought that would suit me more well… not me, Aiden.”
Scholes shares three children Arron (25), Alicia (23), and
Aiden with his ex-wife Claire, and has been open about the challenges of
raising a child with autism.
In a 2021 BBC documentary hosted by Paddy McGuinness,
Scholes spoke candidly about his early struggles to accept Aiden’s diagnosis,
admitting he once hoped his son would “grow out of it.”
“For those first few years after being diagnosed you think
he’s just delayed, eventually he’ll start talking,” Scholes said. “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.”
He also shared that Aiden’s diagnosis deeply affected his
performances on the pitch, recalling one match against Derby County where he
“couldn’t focus” after learning the news.
“We got the diagnosis. We were playing Derby away. I was
terrible, absolutely shocking. I didn’t want to be there. My head was gone.”
Paul Scholes’ emotional revelation has earned widespread
praise, with fans and colleagues commending him for choosing family over fame
and for bringing visibility to the realities of parenting a child with autism.
0 Comments