• Scholes is alleged to have broken gambling rules when he was part-owner and director at Salford City
• Scholes is alleged to have broken gambling rules when he was part-owner and director at Salford City.
Image: REUTERS
Paul Scholes has been charged by the Football Association after placing 140 bets on football over a five-year period.
Scholes, who only last month quit as manager of Oldham after a tempestuous 31-day tenure, is alleged to have broken gambling rules when he was part-owner and director at Salford City.
Reports indicate that any bets placed do not involve Salford. Scholes has been charged with breaching FA Rule E8, which relates to the FA’s betting regulations.
The former Manchester United and England midfielder has managed to avoid controversy throughout his career so Tuesday’s announcement by the FA is sure to come as a huge source of embarrassment when he has become an established pundit on BT Sport.
In a statement, the FA said: “Paul Scholes has been charged with misconduct in relation to The FA’s Betting Rules.
“It is alleged he placed 140 bets on football matches, contrary to FA Rule E8, between 17 August 2015 and 12 January 2019. ‘He has until 26 April 2019 to respond to the charge.” The charges relate to a time before he was the manager of Oldham Athletic but while he was co-owner of Salford City. Scholes recently left his role as manager of League Two strugglers Oldham Athletic.
The Latics were sitting at the bottom of League Two when the Manchester United legend took over in February before overseeing seven games, which he won one, drew three and lost the remaining three games. It has been reported that Scholes was forced to quit Boundary Park after the interference of owner Abdallah Lemsagam became too much.
The 44-year-old sensationally left the position immediately before revealing that he couldn’t continue in the position from the point onwards. On Saturday evening, Scholes revealed his side of the story following Manchester United’s 2-1 win over West Ham at Old Trafford.
Scholes said: “I had heard loads of stories about interference and stuff. The first three weeks there was little bits. Not so much “leave him out, he can’t play, don’t play him, play the player I said”, there was nothing like that in the first three weeks. “There were subtle hints, yeah of course, but I’m not stupid enough to not realise what they are trying to do. In the last week, there was a couple of issues with a couple of players. Experienced pros that I felt didn’t deserve to be treated the way the club wanted to treat them.”