Ryan Giggs

Ryan Giggs

Personal information
Full name	Ryan Joseph Giggs
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s)	Left wing,
Team information
Current team	Manchester United
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 25 January 2007

Ryan Joseph Giggs (born Ryan Joseph Wilson on 29 November 1973 in Cardiff) is a Welsh football player. He is often regarded as one of the best wingers in football history and noted for his lengthy career at Manchester United.

He was born in Wales to father Danny Wilson, a noted Rugby League player, and mother Lynne Giggs, but was brought up in Salford, England and speaks with a Mancunian accent. Danny Wilson was of mixed race and Ryan Giggs has always expressed pride at his mixed heritage. His younger brother Rhodri Giggs, also a winger, plays for FC United of Manchester, the non-league club set up by disaffected Manchester United fans after Malcolm Glazer's takeover of United.

Giggs plays for Manchester United and is their longest-serving current player, having made his first appearance for the club during the 1990-91 season and been a regular player since the 1991-92 season. He has played the second highest number of competitive games for the club (second only to Bobby Charlton), and holds the club record of trophies won by a player (14). Since 1992, he has collected eight Premier League winning medals, four FA Cup winning medals, two League Cup winning medals and one Champions League winning medal. He also has runners-up medals from two FA Cup finals and two League Cup finals, as well as being part of four United teams who have finished second in the league.

Giggs captained England Schoolboys (which all schoolboys in England are eligible to do, regardless of nationality), but plays for the Welsh national team as an adult. At the time of his debut in 1991, Giggs (still only 17 at the time) was the youngest player to represent his country at the highest level. He was appointed captain of Wales in 2004.

He also won the PFA Young Player of the Year award twice (1992 and 1993), making him the first player to win the award in consecutive years - a feat matched only by Robbie Fowler and current team-mate Wayne Rooney. Giggs holds many other records, including that of the top all-time scorer in the FA Premier League not to play regularly in the position of striker, and holds the record for scoring Manchester United's fastest goal (15 seconds), set in November 1995 against Southampton, and is one of only two players to have scored in every Premiership campaign (Gary Speed being the other). Also, having scored his first European goal of the season in United's 3-1 victory over Benfica, Giggs became the first player in Champions League history to score in 12 successive seasons.

He also has the honour of scoring Manchester United's greatest goal as voted by the fans. The goal in question was scored in the semi-final of the FA cup in 1999 against Arsenal where Giggs beat 4 defenders (Lee Dixon twice) to score. Giggs's squad number for both Manchester United and Wales is 11. He is known affectionately as The Welsh Wizard to the United faithful.

Giggs is today Vice Captain at Manchester United, playing deputy to Gary Neville.

Beginnings

Giggs began his football career at Manchester City, signed as a 14 year old by the club after being spotted on the streets of Manchester. His mazy dribbling skills would earn him comparisons to players such as George Best, Diego Maradona, and Johan Cruijff.

Giggs' talent grew in reputation, and thus Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, went to his house to urge him to sign for Manchester United instead of Manchester City. He persuaded Giggs by waiving YTS forms with the opportunity to turn professional in three years. Giggs ended up signing with Manchester United.

Similarly, England Under-21 coach Lawrie McMenemy checked to see whether he was eligible to play for the nation. Contrary to popular belief, Giggs could not have played for the full England national side. He was only eligible to play for the English Schools' team because he went to school there.

In order to play for the England national football team, he would have had to have been born in England or have had English parents or grandparents. However, both his parents and all four grandparents are Welsh. Giggs has often been seen by England supporters as the dream solution to the lack of left-sided English talent for the national team during the 1990s.

A left-sided winger who occasionally plays as a supporting striker for United, Giggs shot to superstardom in Great Britain in 1992 as one of the most exciting talents in the history of the game when he was still a teenager. He earned the tag of Boy Wonder, and in one description by the tabloids, became The boy who converted a million innocent teenage hearts into United fans.

He was arguably the first teenage football poster boy to have garnered such attention since the likes of George Best, a player Giggs has been compared to, and who, alongside Bobby Charlton, personally went down to United's training sessions at 'the Cliff' specifically to watch Giggs play. Giggs' form in the years to come was impeccable, earning him two PFA Young Player of the Year awards and admirers world-wide. Other world-class players like Roberto Baggio described Giggs as 'the most exciting British footballer' they had seen in years. He was, alongside Steve McManaman, regarded as the leader of a new breed of creative new wingers in the English game that was crucial to its new image .

Superstardom

In 1994, the BBC described Giggs as "one of the most photographed persons" in Great Britain. Giggs or "Giggsy" as he was known, was also hailed as one of the FA Premier League's biggest stars and could often be found as the picturebook merchandising icon of the league's early years. He (along with Jamie Redknapp and Lee Sharpe) was part of the league's attempt to market itself globally, reforging its image after the hooliganism affected years of the 1980s.

Giggs turned professional on his 17th birthday in November 1990 and made his League debut against Everton F.C. at Old Trafford on 2 March, 1991, as a substitute for Denis Irwin. In his first full start, Giggs scored his first ever goal in a 1-0 win in the Manchester derby. He collected his first piece of silverware in April 1992 as United defeated Nottingham Forest in the League Cup Final, after Giggs had set up Brian McClair to score the only goal of the game.

By the start of the 1992-93 season - the first season of the newly-formed FA Premier League, Giggs made the left-wing position at United his own, and became known as one of British football's most prodigious young players. His emergence, and the arrival of Éric Cantona (who later claimed that he had a telepathic understanding with/of Giggs) heralded the dominance of United in the new Premier League.

His ability to consistently dribble past opposing players by using his own exceptional balance, pace, and skill to beat players he ran at became the most noticeable aspect of his game. Giggs was also renowned for pre-meditating celebrations with team-mates, such as Paul Ince and Andrei Kanchelskis. He was afforded many opportunities which were not normally offered to footballers at his young age, such as hosting his own television show, Ryan Giggs' Soccer Skills, which was a hit with ITV and Granada in 1994.

Ryan Giggs chants often heard from the fans during the Manchester United games include:

"Ryan Giggs, Ryan Giggs, Running down the wing, Ryan Giggs, Ryan Giggs, Can do anything, Feared by the Blues, Loved by the Reds, Ryan Giggs, Ryan Giggs, Ryan Giggs."

and:

"Giggs, Giggs will tear you apart, again"

the latter adapted from the enduringly popular Joy Division song, 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'.

His goals were constantly on shortlists for Goal of the Season and tended to be memorable, particularly the ones against Queens Park Rangers F.C. in 1993, Tottenham Hotspur F.C. in 1994, Everton F.C. in 1995, Coventry City F.C. in 1996, and the most remarkable of all, his amazing solo-goal against Arsenal F.C. in the replay of the 1999 FA Cup semi-final. During extra time, Giggs picked up possession just after Patrick Vieira had given the ball away, then ran away from the half-way line, dribbling past the whole Arsenal backline, including Tony Adams and Martin Keown before launching his left-footed strike just under David Seaman's bar and beyond him. It has been hailed as one of the best goals ever scored in the competition.

By the late 1990s, with the retirement of Cantona and the emergence of Giggs's fellow fledgling young colleagues like David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Philip Neville and Nicky Butt, Giggs's popularity and fame gradually dissipated. However, his football skill was still marked genius, and he developed into a more mature senior player by the time United won their record breaking and unprecedented "Treble" in 1999. This achievement aided by Giggs's form and key contributions in several tournaments. Memorable was his extra-time goal in the FA Cup semi-final against arch-rivals Arsenal (see above) to give United a 2-1 win, and his 90th minute equalizer in the home leg of the Champions League semi-final against Juventus F.C..

Giggs set up the equalising goal scored by Teddy Sheringham in the UEFA Champions League Final that set United on their way to the treble. Giggs was also the man of the match as United beat Palmeiras to claim the Intercontinental Cup that year. He has been considered a Manchester United 'Legend'.

In November 2003, Giggs was mentioned in an episode of The Simpsons, entitled "The Regina Monologues", which takes place in England. In response to Marge complaining that Homer punched out three people on the street, Homer replies, "That was over soccer results. Can you believe they gave Giggs a yellow card in the box?!"[1]

The latter years

Giggs was one of United's most experienced and senior players at United when Denis Irwin left, and he become a pivotal part of the club. According to a BBC Sport article in 2003, "the trajectory of Giggs' United career follows that of the club almost exactly", underlining his importance to United.

Giggs's form in the years after the achievements of 1999 were reflective of Manchester United's dominance of the English game up until 2003 (when the club won its last FA Premier League title)- with Giggs still relishing his left wing slot. United won the League title four times within those years, and had always made it to UEFA Champions League Quarter-Finals at the very least. He celebrated his 10-year anniversary at Old Trafford with a testimonial match against Glasgow Celtic at the start of the 2001-02 campaign. A year later, he bagged his 100th career goal in a draw with Chelsea F.C. at Stamford Bridge.

With the departure of David Beckham to Real Madrid before the 2003-04 season, many United fans were concerned that the team would lose its world class set-piece threat which Beckham provided, at both shooting directly and also creating numerous chances from dead ball situations for his team-mates. However, on the opening day of the season, with United playing Bolton, Giggs had his first free-kick chance from 25 yards out. It should be noted that Giggs was very much United's first choice taker until Beckham emerged; indeed, Giggs' first goal for Wales was a memorable free-kick itself, against Belgium in 1993. Giggs, out of Beckham's shadow, curled a wonderfully hit free-kick which went in off the post leaving the goalkeeper helpless. The United fans saw the irony and chanted 'David who?' to Giggs' obvious amusement. Giggs also got the second in a comfortable 4-0 win.

He managed to win the FA Cup once more in 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 twice.

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. During the first half of the 2004-05 season, Giggs was linked in a transfer speculation with Newcastle United F.C., a club his best-friend at United, Nicky Butt, had left for. However, no move was made before the transfer window closed on 31 January, 2005. In that season, Giggs still managed to churn out a 'masterclass performance' (in the words of Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler) when given the chance, and together with the old guard of Paul Scholes, looked to be the epitome of the football saying 'form is temporary, but class is permanent'.

After that season, Giggs signed a two-year contract extension with Manchester United when chairman David Gill relented on his normal policy of not signing players over 30 to contracts longer than one year. The extension, which runs through to July 2008, will most probably keep him at Old Trafford for the remainder of his playing career.

Giggs has reinvented himself and continues to contribute positively to the Manchester United cause even after team-mates like David Beckham and Roy Keane had left. He has become the role model to the latest batch of talents at the club like Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. Giggs is used today as an example, alongside Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, as a model professional for young players with hot tempers to follow.

This is largely due to his upbringing by United manager Alex Ferguson, who has sheltered the player since developing him. It remains to be seen whether Giggs outstays his career mentor at the club or vice versa. His versatility has supplemented his raw skill and talent in recent years, and he has been called upon by his manager to play as a forward and a central midfielder for his team, roles in which he applied himself admirably. It is without question that Ryan Giggs will be ranked alongside the best wingers ever to play the game of football.

International career

As of December 2006, Giggs has won 59 caps and scored 11 goals for the Welsh national football team. However, his international career has been nothing short of frustrating. As of 2006, he has not played a single match in either a European Championship or a World Cup, because Wales failed to qualify. Giggs has also received criticism for his reluctance to participate in friendly international matches. Since his debut in 1991 against West Germany, Giggs failed to attend a friendly international until some nine years later, missing a massive 18 consecutive friendly games. Officially he was "injured" for these games, though there is no doubt that was just an excuse in most instances. [2]

There was much comment during the 1990s in England that Ryan Giggs should have played for England; however, Giggs was born in Wales to Welsh parents and had no eligibility or desire to play for England. He represented England's schoolboy team because he went to school in England.

Alfredo Di Stéfano, whose national side was Argentina, George Best from perennial minnow Northern Ireland, and Éric Cantona have also never played a World Cup finals match.

On September 2006, Giggs put in a dazzling perfomance in a friendly against Brazil at White Hart Lane. Such was his display that following the 2-0 win for Brazil, Brazil coach Dunga paid Giggs the ultimate compliment by stating he would not look out of place playing for the five-time world champions alongside stars such as Kaká and Ronaldinho.

At last Giggs had shone on the world stage, so often denied him, and had proven his calibre as one of the world's finest footballers.

Surprisingly, Giggs was also omitted from Pelé's FIFA 100 list. Despite the wide geographical spread of the selected players, Wales was not represented.

Personal life

Other than his notorious spate of womanizing as detailed in tabloids such as the Daily Mirror over the years, Giggs has otherwise managed to avoid the limelight of celebrity trappings that tagged his earlier years. In his autobiography, Giggs: The Autobiography, he revealed possible reasons for his aversion to attention, and accounted for his quiet and bashful demeanour.

The biography described Giggs' difficult upbringing. He endured racial taunts as a child because he was the product of a mixed marriage. Although he admired his rugby-playing father's sporting gifts (Giggs' attributes his speed and balance to his father's genes), he hated the impact his "bullying aggressive nature" had on his family.

In an infamous interview with the Daily Telegraph, Giggs described his father as a "real rogue". He adopted his mother's surname after his parents' separation so that "the world would know I was my mother's son".

Giggs is considered by many as a player who, unlike Lee Sharpe and George Best, achieved considerable fame despite a relatively low profile overall as a celebrity. He has done ads for Reebok, Sovil Titus, Citizen Watch Co., Ltd, Givenchy, Fuji, Patek Phillipe and Celcom, and has been used for video-mapping in computer game simulations like EA Sports' FIFA 2003 series for which he also did a commercial.

According to an article by BBC Sport: "In the early 1990s, Giggs was David Beckham before Beckham was even holding down a place in the United first team. If you put his face on the cover of a football magazine, it guaranteed you the biggest sales of the year. Why? Men would buy it to read about 'the new Best' and girls bought it because they wanted his face all over their bedroom walls. Giggs had the million-pound boot deal (Reebok), the lucrative sponsorship deals in the Far East (Fuji) and the celebrity girlfriends (Dani Behr, Davinia Taylor) at a time when Becks was being sent on loan to Preston.

Giggs is currently living with partner Stacey and their daughter Liberty and son Zach.

Campaigner

In recent years, Giggs has also become a UNICEF representative, launching a campaign to prevent landmines from killing children in 2002.

Giggs, who had visited Unicef projects in Thailand, told the BBC: "As a footballer I can't imagine life without the use of one of my legs...Sadly this is exactly what happens to thousands of children every year when they accidentally step on a landmine." Giggs is also an active campaigner in the fight against racism in football. Alongside fellow mixed-raced players like Rio Ferdinand and Thierry Henry, Giggs is adamant about stamping racism out of the game.

He told the Football Anti-Racism site 'Stop the BNP' the following in 2004: "A lot of people don't know that my father is black. He was a professional rugby player in the area that I played as a youngster. So a lot of people who I went to school with knew who he was and knew that he was black. So I would get racist taunts in school."

He also added in the French L'Equipe Sports Newspaper: "Looking at me from the outside, it is not very obvious, I know but half my family is black and I feel close to their culture and their colour. I am proud of my black roots and of the black blood that runs in my veins. I do not wish to hide my origins, nor do I seek to make it a subject of conversation. I am what I am."

Giggs is also a patron of the Manchester-based 'Five Star Scanner Appeal', a charity that aims to raise £1m to fund a new scanner at a new Manchester Childrens Hospital due to be built ready for 2009.

Career statistics

Manchester United Career:

Competition	Start	End	Matches	Goals	Assists
FA Premier League	1991	2006	488	96	228
European Competitions	1994	2005	125	24	28
FA Cup	1991	2006	57	10	26
League Cup	1991	2005	29	7	8

Honours

With Manchester United (1990 - 2006)

• FA Premier League - Champions (8): 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2002-03
• FA Premier League - Runners Up: 1991-92, 1994-95, 1997-98, 2005-06
• FA Youth Cup Winner: 1992
• FA Cup Winner (4): 1994, 1996, 1999, 2004
• FA Cup Runners Up: 1995, 2005
• League Cup Winner (2): 1992, 2006
• UEFA Champions League Winner: 1998-99
• Intercontinental Cup: 1999
• UEFA Super Cup Winner: 1991
• UEFA Super Cup Runner Up: 1999
• Community Shield Winner (5): 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003
• Community Shield Runner Up: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004

Individual honours

• Barclays Premiership Player of the Month for August, 2006
• Intercontinental Cup Man of the Match (1999)
• Manchester United Players Player of the Year Award 2005/2006
• U-21 European Footballer of the Year (1993)
• Wales Player of the Year Award 1996, 2006
• Inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame 2005
• Inducted into the Premiership Team of the Decade 2003
• Inducted into the FA Challenge Cup Team of the Century 2006
• Honoured with the greatest goal ever scored in the FA Challenge Cup 1999, 2005
• Only Manchester United player to have played in all 8 Premiership title winning teams
• Only Manchester United player to have played in both League Cup winning teams

External links

• Ryan Giggs | Manchester United & Wales
• Ryan Giggs at Soccerbase
• FootballDatabase provides Ryan Giggs's profile and stats
• Manchester United Official Website Biography
• The National Football Museum Hall of Fame
• Video of Ryan Giggs classic goal in the F.A.Cup semi Final, 1999.
• Video of the Giggs mention of the Simpsons
• Ryan Giggs Player Profile from Carling