Paul Scholes has expressed his sadness to see Oldham Athletic get relegated from the Football League on Saturday.
The club’s fate was confirmed following a 2-1 loss to Salford City, whom Scholes part-owns, after a long interruption due to an on-pitch fan protest. Supporters stormed the field with ten minutes of the match remaining to show their disdain for owner Abdallah Lemsagam, unveiling a banner that read ‘Get Out Of Our Club’.
After initially being announced as abandoned, the match was resumed and completed behind closed doors. The game remained 2-1. It means Oldham will not be playing within the top four divisions of English football for the first time in 116 years next season.
READ MORE: Oldham Athletic relegated: Farcical final scenes sum up Lemsagam's reign
The Latics are also the first former Premier League club to be relegated from the Football League. Oldham were one of the founder members of the Premier League in 1992.
Former Manchester United midfielder Scholes used to go to watch games at Boundary Park with his father as a youngster. He also briefly took charge of Oldham in 2019 but left after just seven games due to Lemsagam’s interference with first team matters.
Nevertheless, he was sad to see Oldham suffer the drop. He told talkSPORT: “It’s a big disappointment. I know I was part of Salford, but that was only a small part of it.
“As an Oldham fan, I went to all those big games as a kid with my dad, my dad was a massive Oldham fan. I’m really disappointed they’ve dropped out of the league.
“They’re hoping to keep (first team boss) John Sheridan for next season, and I’m sure with the right budget... He’s been a fantastic manager for Oldham four or five times now, so hopefully he’s the right man to lead them back to the Football League, and things can improve there.”
