Paul Scholes has revealed he does intend to manage Oldham in the future but feels the timing is wrong for him to assume the current vacancy at SportsDirect.com Park.
The former England and Manchester United midfielder was tipped to take on his first managerial post with his boyhood club after Lee Johnson left Latics to move to Sky Bet League One rivals Barnsley last week.
Oldham chairman Simon Corney is a friend of Scholes, who still goes to watch some of the club's games, and he had hoped to audaciously tempt the 40-year-old to take charge of the team.
Scholes has insisted the job is not something he can consider yet due to the fact he has a young family and is tied to various media commitments, but he stressed that being manager of Oldham is something he can one day envisage despite initial reservations about going into that line of work.
Writing in his column for The Independent, Scholes said: "It was an offer that really tempted me. Even as I watched them in the Port Vale game on Tuesday, having made my decision not to take the job, there was part of me that wished I was in the dug-out.
"I will be a manager one day. I have come to see that over the last eight months, although I know that I first said that I did not see my future in coaching.
"And one day I believe that I will manage Oldham, the club that my dad supports and who are very close to my heart.
"They are a really good family club who mean a great deal to a lot of people - myself included. I just did not feel this was the right time.
"When I go into management, I want to do so with 100 per cent commitment. At the moment I have a lot of responsibilities and things going on in my life that I cannot simply drop immediately.
"Most importantly I have a young family who need their dad around, having been away a lot during my playing career.
"There was no way, for example, I would ever have tried to combine a coaching job with my work on television.
"Managing a club like Oldham has to be an all-absorbing, seven days a week commitment. That is how Lee made such a success of it. One day I will be ready to do that. This was the right job, just at the wrong time."
Source: PA
