London: Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Scholes has been appointed manager of Oldham Athletic, the club announced on Monday. Scholes, 44, is taking on his first managerial role, signing a contract with the club he supported as a boy after spending his entire playing career at Old Trafford. The former Premier League club are languishing in mid-table in League Two, the fourth tier of the English game. "Oldham Athletic are delighted to announce footballing legend Paul Scholes as the new first-team manager on a one-and-a-half-year-deal,” the club said in a statement. "I couldn’t be any happier at the minute,” Scholes told Oldham’s official website. "It’s been a while. Obviously there’s been talk of it when I finished my (playing) career. "It wasn’t something I was quite ready to do and there’s obviously been three or four times over the last six years where it could have happened and I’ve not been quite ready.”