Paul Scholes is poised to land his first managerial role with Oldham Athletic.
Scholes has held discussions with the League Two side and is expected to be appointed within 24 hours.
The former Manchester United and England midfielder will join the club whom he supported as a boy, with Oldham 12th in the fourth tier after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat away to Sol Campbell’s Macclesfield Town.
Scholes, 42, will replace interim manager Pete Wild and is the first permanent appointment since Franke Bunn, who left the club after Christmas.
Salford-born Scholes actually grew up with Bunn, the former Oldham striker, as one of his heroes.
Scholes, who won 11 league titles with United, was their reserve-team coach under Sir Alex Ferguson and continued to coach at the club when David Moyes took charge.
He is also part-owner of Salford City with fellow members of United’s celebrated Class of ’92 and had a brief spell as joint-caretaker manager of the non-league club in 2015.
More recently, he has attracted attention as a television pundit, offering often trenchant criticism of Jose Mourinho’s reign at United.
His nephew, Ryan Scholes-Beard, is a 19-year-old midfielder on the books of Oldham’s academy.
