Scholes, who will be joined by former Latics coach Mick Priest as his assistant, replaces academy coach Pete Wild, who had been in caretaker charge since Frankie Bunn was sacked in December.

Latics owner Abdallah Lemsagam said: "Paul has won everything there is to win in football. He is a man who will bring a lot of footballing knowledge and his hunger to succeed in management will be there for everyone to see.

"It's no secret how much he has wanted this job in the past and how much he loves this club, so I'm very happy to bring him into our family at Oldham Athletic.

"Paul will have my backing 100 per cent and hopefully we can work together to bring success back to this club."

The Latics' 3-0 win at Crawley on Saturday was their first in the league since New Year's Day and it moved them up to 14th place in League Two, nine points off the play-off places.

The 44-year-old, who spent his entire playing career with United and won 20 major trophies, including 11 Premier League titles, has very limited coaching experience but talked only last month about his eagerness to get back into football, almost six years since his retirement.

He has been working as a pundit for BT Sport in recent years and was part of the takeover of Salford City in 2014 with his old 'Class of 92' team-mates at United – Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville. David Beckham also acquired a stake in the club last month.

Salford announced on Monday afternoon that Scholes would resign as a club director but retain his 10 per cent stake in the club.

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