Latics owner Abdallah Lemsagam has fired back at the reports that Paul Scholes left the club because he had interfered with team selection.
Lemsagan said, “It hurt, yes, but it's part of life. It's a pity because to just send a WhatsApp was a little bit hard, not only for me but for the club. We will try to convince him to come back. I tried to call him many times but he did not answer. It's a pity how it came out but we wish him luck. He is a really good man and maybe will be a good manager in the future.”
“I was away for something like three weeks, 21 days. How can I interfere with his job when I am away in Dubai seeing my family? The only time I talked to him was about a player and whether to keep him or not. He told me he was happy to let him go. As chairman, and as the owner, I am allowed to talk to some of the players if we don't need them, to try and find some solution."
“I got the hundred people that are working here and I got the badge of the club. That's what I've got. The rest, nothing belongs to the club. Even where we're sitting, we're renting it. Every building, the new stand, everything belongs to someone else. I asked to make some offers [to buy the stadium] but they are far away from reality. I want to buy the club from them and put it all together in one, like it used to be, but there's no chance because they're asking for a big price, it's too much.”
“I have all the documents here [about players washing their own kit]. You will see it is a lie and is damaging the club. I am looking at this with my lawyer because I am not going to let someone write lies about the club.”