RYAN GIGGS
Giggs is the most decorated player in English football history,
[3] having established himself as a
left winger during the 1990s, and continuing in this position well into the 2000s, though he has been increasingly used in a deeper
playmaking role in his latter years.
Giggs made his first appearance for the club during the
1990–91 season and has been a regular player since the
1991–92 season. He holds the club record for competitive appearances, and the club record for team trophies won by a player (23).
[4]Since 1992, he has collected 11
Premier League winner's medals, four
FA Cup winner's medals, three
League Cup winner's medals and two
Champions League winner's medals. He has runner-up medals from the
Champions League, three FA Cup finals and two League Cup finals, as well as being part of five United teams to have finished second in the league. In recent years, Giggs has captained the team on numerous occasions, particularly in the 2007–08 season when regular captain
Gary Neville was ruled out with various injuries.
On 16 May 2009, he became the first footballer to collect 11 top division English league title medals. Giggs was the first player in history to win two consecutive
PFA Young Player of the Year awards (1992 and 1993) and is the only player to have played and scored in every season of the
Premier League.
[5]Giggs has had a long-lasting domestic and continental career and is the first player in
UEFA Champions League history to have scored in 11 successive seasons, on top of being elected into the
PFA Team of the Century in 2007, the
Premier League Team of the Decade, in 2003, as well as the
FA Cup Team of the Century.
He is also the only United player to have played in all 11 Premier League winning teams and the first three
League Cup-winning teams. At the
2008 UEFA Champions League Final, held on 21 May 2008, Giggs surpassed
Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearances for Manchester United to become the club's all-time leader in appearances.
[7] At international level, Giggs played for the
Welsh national team prior to his retirement from international football on 2 June 2007, and was once the youngest player to ever represent his country.
In addition to the many honours Giggs has received within football such as being named in the
Football League 100 Legends (the last active player in the list), he was appointed an
OBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours List, and was inducted into the
English Football Hall of Fame in 2005, for his services to English Football. He was named as
BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2009. On 31 January 2011, Giggs was named Manchester United's greatest ever player by a world wide poll conducted by United's official magazine and website.
Sir Alex Ferguson presented him with the award.
[3]Early years
He spent much time with his mother's parents and playing football on the roads outside their house in
Pentrebane. In 1980, when Giggs was six years old, his father switched rugby codes and signed for
Swinton RLFC, forcing the whole family to move north to
Swinton, a town in
Salford,
Greater Manchester. The move was a traumatic one, as Giggs was very close to his grandparents in Cardiff, but he would often return there with his family at weekends or on school holidays. Giggs is
mixed race – his paternal grandfather is from
Sierra Leone and has spoken of the
racism he faced as a child.
[8]After moving to Salford, Giggs appeared for the local team, Deans FC, who were coached by
Manchester City scout Dennis Schofield. His first game for Deans ended in a 9–0 defeat to Stretford Vics but, nevertheless, many people commented that Giggs had been the best player on the pitch that day. Schofield recommended Giggs to Manchester City, and he was signed up to their School of Excellence. Meanwhile, Giggs continued to play for Salford Boys, who went on to reach the final of the Granada Schools Cup competition at
Anfield in 1987. Giggs captained the Salford team to victory over their Blackburn counterparts, and the trophy was presented to him by
Liverpool chief scout
Ron Yeats. Yeats was impressed by Giggs's performance, and would have recommended him to Liverpool manager
Kenny Dalglish, had Giggs not already been picked up by Manchester United.
[citation needed]While playing for Deans, Giggs was observed regularly by local newsagent and
Old Trafford steward Harold Wood who regularly recommended the young man to senior staff at
Manchester United to no avail. Wood spoke personally to
Alex Ferguson who sent a scout who was impressed enough for United to offer Giggs a trial over the 1986 Christmas period. Giggs played in a match for Salford Boys against a United Under-15s side at
The Cliff and scored a
hat trick, with Ferguson watching from his office window. On 29 November 1987 (his 14th birthday), Ferguson turned up at Giggs's house with United scout Joe Brown and offered him two years on associate schoolboy forms. They offered to waive
YTS forms, and persuaded Giggs to sign by offering the opportunity to turn professional in three years. Using the name Ryan Wilson, Giggs captained England at
schoolboy level, playing at
Wembley Stadium against
Germany in 1989.
[9] He changed his surname at the age of 16, when his mother remarried. His parents had separated two years earlier.
[10] Manchester United first team
Debut and breakthrough season
Giggs turned professional on 29 November 1990 (his 17th birthday), by which time he was described by various sources to be the finest prospect in English football since
George Best in the 1960s. At this time, United had recently won the
FA Cup – their first major trophy since the appointment of
Alex Ferguson as manager in November 1986. After two precarious seasons in the league where they had finished mid table, they were finally starting to threaten the dominance of
Liverpool and
Arsenal, though they only managed to finish sixth that season. Ferguson's quest for a successful left winger had not been an easy one since the departure of
Jesper Olsen two years earlier. First he had signed
Ralph Milne, but the player was not a success at United and lasted just one season in the first team before Ferguson secured the
Southampton winger
Danny Wallace in September 1989. Wallace had failed to repeat the performances that had made him one of the highest rated flanksmen in his days on the South Coast, and by the time Giggs turned professional Wallace was battling with 19-year-old
Lee Sharpe for the role of first choice left winger.
[citation needed]Giggs made his League debut against
Everton at
Old Trafford on 2 March 1991, as a substitute for the injured full-back
Denis Irwin in a 2–0 defeat. In his first full start, Giggs was credited with his first ever goal in a 1–0 win in the
Manchester derby on 4 May 1991, though it appeared to be a
Colin Hendry own goal. However, he was not included in the squad of 16 that defeated
Barcelona in the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final 11 days later. Lee Sharpe, who had now won the race to displace Danny Wallace as United's regular left winger, took to the field as United's left winger, while Wallace was selected as a substitute. He became a first-team regular early in the
1991–92 season, yet remained active with the youth system and captained the team, made up of many of "
Fergie's Fledglings", to an
FA Youth Cup triumph in 1992.
[citation needed]Giggs broke into the first team even though he was still aged only 17, a mark of his skill and maturity, and paved the way as the first of many Manchester United youth players to rise into the first team under Ferguson. As the youngest member of the United first team squad, Giggs looked to the older players such as
Bryan Robson for advice. Robson recommended that Giggs sign up with Harry Swales, the agent that he himself had inherited from
Kevin Keegan.
[11] Early career
By the start of the
1992–93 season, the first season of the newly formed
Premier League, Giggs was firmly established as
United's first choice left winger, and became known as one of British football's most prodigious young players, where Giggs was also hailed as the more prodigious half of English football's two best emerging young wingers, alongside
Steve McManaman,
[12] who were notable for being a throwback to the
Stanley Matthews era of the 1950s' wingers, and for their ability to "embarrass defences with their mazy runs, which too often lack the finishing touch they deserve".
[13] Giggs, as the leader of this new revival of pacy and stylish football after the traditional years of long ball and
route one styles of previous decades, played a key role in reshaping English football,
[14] and helped United to its first top division title win for 26 years, though they didn't go top until after Christmas and fought off competition from big spending
Aston Villa and
Blackburn Rovers as well as surprise title contenders
Norwich City.
Giggs playing for United.
His emergence and the arrival of
Eric Cantona heralded the dominance of United in the new league. His manager was very protective of him, refusing to allow Giggs to be interviewed until he turned 20, eventually granting the first interview to the
BBC's
Des Lynam for
Match of the Day in the
1993–94 season. This was the season when United won the double and Giggs was one of their key players alongside the likes of
Eric Cantona,
Paul Ince and
Mark Hughes. Lee Sharpe, the player Giggs had ousted on the left wing a couple of years earlier, was now vying with
Andrei Kanchelskis for the right wing position – with both players having key parts in the club's success. They topped the table from the fourth game in late August and were not overtaken all season. Giggs also played for United in the
Football League Cup final, where they lost 3–1 to
Aston Villa, ending their hopes of a unique domestic treble.
Off the pitch, newspapers claimed Giggs had "single-handedly revolutionised football's image" when he appeared as teenager "with pace to burn, a bramble patch of black hair bouncing around his puppy popstar face, and a dazzling, gluey relationship between his impossibly fleet left foot and a football."
[15] As a result of this, he was afforded many opportunities not normally offered to footballers at his young age, such as hosting his own
television show,
Ryan Giggs' Soccer Skills, which aired in 1994, and also had a book based on the series. Giggs was part of the Premier League's attempt to market itself globally, re-forging its image after the
hooliganism-blighted years of the
1980s and he featured on countless football and
lad mag covers, becoming a household name, and fuelling the era where footballers started to become
celebrity idols on a par with
pop stars,
[16] in and around the mid to late
1990s. Despite his aversion to attention, Giggs also became a teenage pin-up and was once described as the "Premiership's First Poster Boy", and the "boy wonder",
[18] arguably the original footballer who catapulted the term into the public lexicon. He was hailed as the first football star to capture the public imagination in a way unseen since the days of
George Best; the irony was that Best and
Bobby Charlton used to describe Giggs as their favourite young player, turning up at
The Cliff training ground just to watch him, where Best once quipped, "One day they might even say that I was another Ryan Giggs."
At the end of the 1993-94 season, Giggs won a second title in a row, and became the first player in history to win two consecutive PFA Young Player of the Year awards, a feat that has not been bettered, and been equalled since only by
Robbie Fowler and
Wayne Rooney.
[20]Giggs proved to be a great goalscorer, many of his memorable goals being shortlisted for various
Goal of the Season awards. Widely regarded as among his best were those against
Queens Park Rangers in 1993,
Tottenham in 1994,
Everton in 1995,
Coventry in 1996, and the most remarkable of all, his solo-goal against
Arsenal in the replay of the 1999
FA Cup semi-final. During extra time, Giggs picked up possession after
Patrick Vieira gave the ball away, then ran from the half-way line, dribbled past the whole Arsenal back line, including
Tony Adams,
Lee Dixon and
Martin Keown before launching his left-footed strike just under
David Seaman's bar and beyond his reach. He famously whipped off his shirt as he ran to celebrate with his teammates. It also has the distinction of being the last ever goal scored in an
FA Cup semi-final replay as, from the following season, the
FA Cup semi-finals are decided in a single game, with
extra time and a
penalty shootout if required.
[citation needed] Mid-late 1990s
1994–95 saw Giggs restricted through injury to 29 Premier League games and only 1 goal, later in the season he recovered his form and fitness, though it was too late to help United to any major trophies. A failure to beat
West Ham United on the final day of the season saw them lose the Premier League title to
Blackburn Rovers. A week later, Giggs came on as a substitute in the FA Cup final against
Everton, but United lost 1–0.
On a more positive side in the 1994-95 season, Giggs did get on the scoresheet twice in the opening Champions League game against
IFK Gothenburg (a 4–2 win, although United ultimately failed to progress to the quarter-finals) and also managed a goal in the
FA Cup fourth around victory over
Wrexham, meaning that he had managed four in all competitions that season.
The 1995 close season brought more controversy as United sold Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis and began the following season without a major signing, though they had added
Andy Cole to their ranks for a national record
£7 million halfway through the previous season.
In
1995–96, Giggs returned to full form and played a vital part in United's unique second
double, his goal against Everton at
Goodison Park on 9 September 1995 being shortlisted for the "goal of the season" award, though it was eventually beaten by a goal by
Manchester City's Georgi Kinkladze. In November that season, Giggs scored two goals in a Premier League match against
Southampton, arguably his finest performance of the season, where United won 4–1 to keep up the pressure on a
Newcastle United side who actually went 10 points clear on 23 December but were finally overhauled by United in mid March. Giggs was also in the side for United's FA Cup final win over Liverpool on 11 May 1996, though
Eric Cantona scored the late winner – the only goal of the game. By now, Giggs had several new key colleagues in breakthrough youngsters
Gary Neville,
Phil Neville,
Nicky Butt,
David Beckham and
Paul Scholes. Beckham took over from Andrei Kanchelskis on the right wing and Butt succeeded Paul Ince in central midfield to complete a new look United midfield along with Giggs and Roy Keane.
[citation needed]The following season, Giggs had his first real chance to shine in Europe. Having played a key role in United winning their third league title in four seasons, he helped them reach the
UEFA Champions League semi-finals, the first United side in 28 years to achieve this. However, their hopes of European glory were ended by
Borussia Dortmund, who edged them out by winning each leg of the semi-final 1–0. At the end of this season,
Juventus'
Alessandro Del Piero told Italian media that Giggs was one of his two favourite players, and gave the following memorable quote:"This is embarrassing to say but I have cried twice in my life watching a football player; the first one was
Roberto Baggio and the second was Ryan Giggs."
[21]
In
1997–98, United were pipped to the Premier League title by Arsenal, following a dismal run of form in March and early April, leaving them without a trophy for only the second time since 1989. The following season, Giggs missed a lot of games through injury, but when he was fit his form was consistently excellent and he played in both of United's cup finals that season. Memorable moments were his extra-time goal in the FA Cup semi-final against arch-rivals
Arsenal to give United a 2–1 win, and his 90th minute equaliser in the home leg of the
UEFA Champions League semi-final against
Juventus, a 1–1 draw which was followed two weeks later by a 3–2 win in
Turin where United came from two goals behind.
2000–2005
Giggs became
United's longest serving player when
Denis Irwin left in May 2002, and he became a pivotal part of the club, despite still being in his twenties. Giggs continued to excel in the four years that followed the
Treble triumph of 1999. United were
Premier League champions in three of the four seasons following the treble, as well as reaching the
UEFA Champions League quarter-finals three times and the semi-finals once. He celebrated his 10-year anniversary at
Old Trafford with a testimonial match against
Celtic at the start of the
2001–02 campaign. However, this was one of the most disappointing seasons United had endured since Giggs made his debut for them, as a dismal run of form in early winter ultimately cost them the league title and they were surprisingly knocked out of the Champions League on away goals in the semi finals by
German underdogs
Bayer Leverkusen. A year later, in the autumn of 2002, he bagged his 100th career goal in a draw with
Chelsea at
Stamford Bridge.
[citation needed]He played in his fourth
FA Cup triumph on 22 May 2004, making him one of only two players (the other being
Roy Keane) to have won the trophy four times while playing for Manchester United. He has also finished with a runners-up medal three times (1995, 2005 and 2007). His participation in the victory over
Liverpool in September 2004 made him the third player to play 600 games for United, alongside Sir
Bobby Charlton and
Bill Foulkes. He was inducted into the
English Football Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of his contribution to the English game.
Since 2006
After that season, Giggs signed a two-year contract extension with United when chief executive
David Gill relented on his normal policy of not signing players over 30 to contracts longer than one year. He has subsequently signed three further one-year contact extensions, to keep him at Old Trafford until at least June 2011, when he will be 37. Giggs benefited from being largely injury-free aside from a series of
hamstring problems.
On 6 May 2007, with
Chelsea only able to manage a 1–1 draw with London rivals
Arsenal, Manchester United became the champions of England. In doing so, Giggs set a new record of nine league titles, beating the previous record of eight he shared with
Alan Hansen and
Phil Neal (who won all of their titles with
Liverpool). Giggs played a starring role in United's 2007 Charity Shield victory after netting in the first half to bring the game to a 1–1 draw, which led to penalty triumph for the Red Devils after keeper
Edwin van der Sar saved all of Chelsea's first three penalties.
In the 2007–08 season,
Alex Ferguson adopted a rotation system between Giggs and newcomers
Nani and
Anderson. Nevertheless, Giggs remained the favoured choice for the anticipated clash with Chelsea at Old Trafford and put in a cross with the outside of his boot for
Carlos Tévez to score his first
United goal.
Giggs scored his 100th league goal for United against
Derby County on 8 December 2007, which United won 4–1.
[22] More landmarks have been achieved: on 20 February 2008 he made his 100th appearance in the
UEFA Champions League in a game against
Lyon[23] and on 11 May 2008 he came on as a substitute for
Park Ji-Sung to equal
Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 758 appearances for United.
[24] Giggs scored the second goal in that match, sealing his, and United's, tenth
Premier League title. Ten days later, on 21 May 2008, Giggs broke
Bobby Charlton's appearance record for United when coming on as an 87th minute substitute for
Paul Scholes in the
Champions League Final against
Chelsea. United would go on to win the Final, defeating Chelsea 6–5 on penalties after a 1–1 draw after extra time. Giggs converted what became the winning penalty in sudden-death for United and joined
Steve McManaman and team-mate
Owen Hargreaves in becoming the only British players to have played in and won more than one Champions League final. (This is not true for European Cups as several
Nottingham Forest players achieved this in 1979 and 1980 and several Liverpool players in 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1984.) Giggs lifted the Champions League trophy with
Rio Ferdinand as captain
Gary Neville had been out for nearly the entire season with an injury.
At the start of Manchester United's 2008–09 campaign,
Sir Alex Ferguson began placing Giggs at central midfield, behind the forwards, instead of his favoured wing position. Giggs has since adapted very well to his new position and supplied two assists in as many games, against
Middlesbrough and
Aalborg. Sir Alex Ferguson said in an interview, "(Giggs) is a very valuable player, he will be 35 this November but at 35, he can be United's key player. At 25, Ryan would shatter defenders with his run down the flank, but at 35, he will play deeper."
[25] Giggs has begun taking his coaching badges and Ferguson has hinted that he would like Giggs to serve as his coaching staff after retirement like
Ole Gunnar Solskjær did.
[26]On 8 February 2009, Giggs maintained his record of being the only player to score in every season of the Premier League since its inception in 1992 by netting the only goal in a 1–0 win over
West Ham United.
[27] Following speculation earlier in the year,
[28] in February 2009, Giggs signed a one-year extension to his current contract – which was due to expire in June 2009.
[29] After a successful season, Giggs was short-listed along with four other
Manchester United team mates for the
PFA Player of the Year.
[30] On 26 April 2009, Giggs received the award, despite having started just twelve games throughout the 08/09 season (at the time of receiving the trophy). This was the first time in his career that Giggs had received the award.
[31] Prior to the awards ceremony,
Alex Ferguson had given his backing for Giggs to win the award and stated that it would be fitting, given Giggs' long term contribution to the game.
[32] Giggs made his 800th appearance for Manchester United on 29 April 2009, in the 1–0 semi-final win over
Arsenal in the
UEFA Champions League.
[33] On 16 May 2009, Manchester United won the Premier League after a 0–0 draw against Arsenal, both United's and Giggs' 11th Premier League titles.
Giggs scored his first Manchester United hat-trick in a pre-season friendly against
Hangzhou Greentown after coming on as a second-half substitute.
[34]Giggs in a match against
Everton on 21 November 2009
On 12 September 2009, Giggs scored United's first goal in a 3–1 Premier League win against
Tottenham Hotspur, at
White Hart Lane, maintaining his record of having scored in every Premier League season since its inception, the only player to have done so. This game also marked Giggs' 700th start for United.
[35] Giggs scored his 150th goal for United, only the ninth player to do so for the club, against
Wolfsburg in his first
Champions League game of the season. The goal, as well as his previous strike of the season against Spurs, was direct from a free-kick, albeit with a huge deflection. It also made it a record-equalling 14th
Champions League season in which he had scored, drawing him level with
Raúl who had achieved the feat 15 days earlier. He then set up
Michael Carrick to score the winner to give United a 2–1 win against the
Champions League newcomers.
[36] On 28 November 2009, the eve of his 36th birthday, Giggs scored his 100th Premier League goal – all for Manchester United – scoring the final goal in a 4–1 victory over
Portsmouth at
Fratton Park. The goal along with his previous two strikes of the season was another free kick, stating his claim for regular set-piece taker since the departure of
Cristiano Ronaldo, he also became only the 17th player to reach the milestone in the
Premier League.
[37]On 30 November 2009, the day after his 36th birthday, it was reported that Giggs would be offered an additional one-year contract which would run until the end of the 2010–11 season and see him past the 20th anniversary of his first game and first goal for United.
[38] On the same day, Giggs was nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2009. On 5 December 2009, Giggs' appearance against
West Ham United – a game that he ended playing at left-back – equalled countryman
Gary Speed's outfield record of 535
Premier League games. On 12 December, Giggs surpassed Speed's feat by playing against
Aston Villa. The following day, Giggs won the
BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
[39] On 18 December 2009, Giggs signed a one-year contract extension with United, keeping him at the club until June 2011, taking him past the 20th anniversary of his first professional contract and that of his first team debut – a rare occurrence of a player reaching the 20-year mark with the same club and with unbroken service.
[40] On 31 December 2009, Giggs was named the Manchester United Player of the Decade.
[41] On 24 April 2010, Giggs scored the first ever league penalties of his career in his 900th game, netting two penalties in a 3–1 home win over
Tottenham Hotspur, which was crucial as it sent United to the top of the Premier League after several weeks in second place behind Chelsea.
[42]On 16 August 2010, Giggs kept up his record of scoring in every
Premier League season since its inception as he netted United's third in their 3–0 home victory over
Newcastle United in their opening fixture of the
new campaign. As he found the net in the final two seasons of the old
Football League First Division, he has now scored in 21 successive top division campaigns.
[43] His second goal of the season came against
Birmingham City in a 5-0 victory against the Midland's side. On 17 January 2011, Giggs reached 600 league appearances (all for Manchester United), as he played in their goalless draw against Tottenham at
White Hart Lane.
[44] Giggs signed a one-year contract extension with Manchester United on 18 February, keeping him at the club until June 2012.
[45] On the 6th of March 2011, Giggs surpassed the Manchester United league appearance record of
Bobby Charlton by playing his 607th game against Liverpool.
