Planet Extra - Ryan Giggs

Mab Darogan

10.01.10
Ryan Giggs made his English football league debut against Everton at Old Trafford on 2 March 1991. He came on as a substitute for Irish international full back Denis Irwin that afternoon and so began a period of sustained success unparalleled in English football.

With Manchester United he has won the English Premiership eleven times; the FA Cup four times; the League Cup three times; the Charity Shield seven times; the UEFA Champions League twice along with the UEFA Supercup; the Intercontinental Cup and the FIFA World Club Cup.

Over the past eighteen years Giggsy has played over 800 games for his only team, and Alex Ferguson, his manager throughout this period, recently declared him "an exceptional player — a rarity" who "will play for two years yet". As the Welshman celebrated his thiry-sixth birthday, Ferguson was reflecting on his protegé’s career with uncharacteristic sentimentality: "I think back to 1986 when I first started pestering the life out of him and now, more than 20 years on, I can still enjoy watching him. It will never happen again that a manager can have a player for 20 years and watch that player delight him and all the fans for that period."

The "gaffer" confessed in The Sun newspaper that he partly attributed the success of his Manchester United team to an incident which occurred in November 1996 when he stole the Welshman’s Welsh rugby hat before a game in Turkey against Fenerbahce! According to the manager "the only time Ryan has ever let himself down is letting me steal his Welsh bunnet. He is never going to get it back, because it is lucky for me. I have always worn it."

This public show of affection came on the eve of those two most contentious of awards: the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award and the equivalent awards ceremony held by BBC Wales for Welsh sportsmen and women. The Welsh awards ceremony drew an impressive short list which included Solheim Cup golfer Becky Brewerton, boxer Nathan Cleverly, cyclist Geraint Thomas and rugby players Louise Rickard and Jamie Roberts. Ryan Giggs was voted the winner and was able to add the honour to the Professional Footballers' Association Player of the Year award he won earlier in the year.

Putting forward his name for Sports Personality of the Year showed renewed appreciation for a footballer who has achieved so much in the sport. Expectations were low, but Ryan Giggs "captured the public's imagination" and won the coveted award. The surprise on his face as he walked centre stage was followed by a stuttering speech reflecting his modesty as he was acknowledged as one of the greatest players these islands have ever seen.