Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has explained his decision to step from punditry roles this season, allowing him to put his son’s care needs first.
Scholes was famously quiet during his playing career, usually refusing interview requests from external media outlets and just giving his time when it was contractually expected—typically only for United’s MUTV channel or in-house magazine.
But the former midfielder, who hung up his boots permanently in 2013, had become a regular feature of television punditry in the decade or so after his retirement.
Scholes has previously spoken on the subject of his 20-year-old son, Aiden, who is autistic. He shares caring responsibilities with his ex-wife and looks after Aiden three days a week.
Ahead of 2025–26, the ex-England international made the decision to stop working as a match pundit on live television that had been clashing with those responsibilities, stripping back his media appearances to pre-recorded studio work that better fits with his care schedule.
The Stick to Football podcast on The Overlap network is one such media avenue of media he’s kept. He also does another regular podcast with ex-teammate Nicky Butt and host Paddy McGuinness, who himself has three children with autism, called The Good, The Bad and the Football.
“I made a decision this year because of Aiden, obviously due to his special needs you might know about,” Scholes explained on Stick to Football’s landmark 100th episode this week. “All the work I do now is just around his routines because he has quite a strict routine every single day, so I just decided everything I’m going to do is around Aiden.”
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“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.”
Scholes continued: “I’m not with [ex-wife] Claire anymore so we have him three nights each and Claire’s mum has him on a Friday night. 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.
“I pick him up every Tuesday from his daycare and we go swimming. [He] 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.”
Discussing learning of the original diagnosis, Scholes said: “We didn’t know what was in store for us. I didn’t speak to anyone at the club about it. Even now I don’t want sympathy or anything. I just thought even if I did speak to someone about it, it’s not going to help Aiden.
“I don’t know what would help me. The big concern now is because you’re getting a bit older, what happens when you’re not here? That’s the thing that’s now on my mind all the time. There are times when it’s not in your head, it’s like anything, then there’s times like now when you do start speaking about it, it’s at the front of your mind.”
This week’s Stick to Football podcast with Paul Scholes is available now on YouTube and all leading podcast platforms.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Paul Scholes Explains Decision to Stop TV Pundit Work Linked to Son’s Care.
