Giggs

The Warriors Ryan Giggs

HERE ARE no medals, trophies,

photographs, or indeed any
mementoes at all on display at Ryan
Giggs’ house on the outskirts of
Manchester. “If you walked in there
you wouldn’t even know I was a footballer,” he laughs.
Giggs has no interest in building a shrine to himself,
and even admits to recently stumbling across his
2008 Champions League winners’ medal down
the back of a drawer, so instead he donates

lks most of his medals and trophies to the

m P ilger ta ted museum at Old Trafford.

Sa ster Uni out “I have got 50 years to go on about
n ch e ab
to Ma n Giggs ng
how much I’ve won, and I might just

R y a zli do that,” Giggs tells Football+. “But

“He is just an legend ades of daz

c
two de ances, tryin
g
at the moment it doesn’t matter, I’m
not trying to be blasé, I am proud of

incredible human perfor m

id the Fergie
re
what I’ve achieved, but looking at a

to avo is desi
medal or talking about what I’ve won

being who defies er an d

hairdry re honours
h really doesn’t do anything for me.”
It is this lack of sentiment, aligned

logic. There is for mo with a fierce determination to keep on

winning more and more, that has made

no other player Giggs the most successful footballer in the

20 years
history of the British game.

who has done

Since making his professional debut 20 years ago, in
March 1991, Giggs has collected a total of 23 winners’
medals (11 Premier League titles, 4 FA Cups, 3 League

what he’s done or Cups, 2 Champions Leagues, 1 Intercontinental Cup, 1

FIFA Club World Cup and 1 European Super Cup), but

is ever likely to.

11 EPL titles
when you add in Charity Shields, and runners’ up medals
too, it expands to a staggering 43 medals.

He is amazing” As Manchester United have dominated English football

over the past two decades, Giggs, who is one of only two
Sir Alex Ferguson players to have appeared in every Premier League season

43 medals
so far, has been the one constant presence in each side.
At first he was the prodigious teenager with the mop of
curly hair surrounded by Peter Schmeichel, Steve Bruce

images WWW.JONSHARD.COM + GETTY IMAGES

and Eric Cantona when United won the first Premier
League. Then he was the leader of the “Fergie Fledglings”
alongside David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville,

But just
who emerged to win the double in their first season together
before trumping that with an historic treble in 1999. In recent
years he’s been the club captain and elder statesman of the
team, helping guide such youthful talents as Wayne Rooney
and Cristiano Ronaldo to a hat-trick of Premier Leagues and

1 club
another Champions League.
But what is most remarkable about Giggs is there has
never been any discernible dip in form, especially in his
latter years. As he has got older he has never had to trade
on former glories, but rather he has steadily got better,
evolving from that burst of energy on the left flank to a wiser

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and more complete player, who incredibly manages to
keep the natural cut and thrust of his younger game.
Having celebrated his 37th birthday last November,
Giggs remains one of United’s most influential
players, and as his mentor and only club manager,
Sir Alex Ferguson, said on the eve of his 600th
league appearance in January this year, “He is just an
incredible human being who defies logic. There is no
other player who has done what he’s done or is ever
likely to. He is amazing.”
I first met Giggs 14 years ago, and have interviewed
him several times since, including a stint helping him
to write his online diary, and he never seems to change.
He has always remained pleasingly bereft of the
narcissism of so many modern players, which has
helped to make him the one Manchester United player
it is all right for fans of other clubs to like.
When we meet for Football+ in Manchester, he is
warm and engaging company, candid and open, and
regularly displaying the dry sense of humour not always
obvious in his more guarded on-camera personality.
+ How have you managed to play at the top for 20 years?
I’m lucky to be a naturally fit person. I now do a lot
of yoga and Pilates, which helps, and I have also
16 FOOTBALL+
Giggs
“I’ll miss
everything
about this life.
I love it all. I walk
over to take a
corner and people
are absolutely
abusing me. I will
miss that feeling.
It makes you
feel alive”
had to make a lot of sacrifices, so I don’t go out Giggs sporting the
much, and I watch what I eat and drink. At my age, Manchester fashion
you can’t afford to splurge on a Chinese takeaway of November 1991
or McDonalds, and I went about 18 months without
touching a drop of alcohol – nothing – and I felt better
for it. Now I hardly touch it.
+ How finely tuned is your approach to the game now?
Well, for instance, I feel at my sharpest, mentally and
physically, when I completely cut out the foods I really
like, such as having butter on my toast. So if I have just
a tiny bit of butter I can feel sluggish and different.
+ After winning everything in the game, several times
over, how do you keep your hunger for success?
Because I realise this is all going to come to an end
very soon, the finish line is not far away. I am enjoying it
more than ever now. I am not taking a single moment for
granted. I am going to miss this life so much, everything
about it; against Rangers in the Champions League at
Ibrox this season I had 40,000 Glaswegians screaming at
me. It’s even more precious now – I enjoy the challenge
a lot more. You make the most of it, I love it all, it’s great,
I walk over to take a corner and people are absolutely
abusing me. I will miss that feeling, it makes you feel alive.
+ Did you make a conscious decision that you wanted
to play for as long as possible?
Footballers will tell you your life changes when you hit
30. That is notoriously the beginning of the end, and I
was determined that wouldn’t be the case with me. At
30, you are perceived as past it, so if you have a bad
game, people shrug and say ‘Well, he is over 30 now’.
I didn’t want that, I wanted to prove people wrong, I
didn’t want to be judged like that.
+ The Dutch legend Johan Cruyff once said:
‘Before I was 30, I played on instinct. After I was 30,
I began to understand why I did what I did’. Would you
agree with that?
I’m not sure, because all the best things I have done on
a football pitch have been purely instinctive, and they
still are. It is definitely the most important aspect, you do
think more about decisions now, you weigh up which is
the best pass to play, but as a youngster you would just
do it, so you do think more, but it is still mostly instinct.
+ Sir Alex Ferguson has said there has been no
deterioration in your game over the last 20 years.
Would you agree?
I probably would, because since I got in to my 30s I
have been at my happiest, I have played some of my
best football, because I try to make less rash decisions,
and I have been a lot more effective.
+ What parts of your game have you kept from
when you were 18? Do you still recognise that player?
He’s still there. Now and again I recognise him, if I’m
playing really well in training or in a game. I played on
the left wing then, taking players on. It’s not as easy
now – everything has to be perfect to do it, and every
now again you feel perfect, you feel good, you will try
and take players on. I am still able to do most things,
but I pick and choose my moments more.
+ When do you feel like the old guy in the
dressing room?
The only time I’m made to feel really old is when the
young players all start talking about playing computer
games. They all play this game called Black Ops.
It goes over my head. I laugh to myself when I hear
them talking as I remember I used to be like that. To
be honest, I don’t feel too old . . . I join in with the
banter, it keeps me feeling young. They talk about
cars and girls. I will reminisce with them and tell them,
‘When I was your age . . .’
+ How did you feel when you heard the England and
Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson talking about
you holding him as a baby on holiday?
Danny Welbeck, who is on loan at Sunderland,
came back to do a bit of weight training with us, a
couple of days after he said it, so I said to him,
‘You tell that Henderson, if that pictures comes out
he’s in trouble, tell him to keep that under wraps’. I just
had to laugh, it makes you realise I am old, if you’re
playing against someone you had a picture with when
they were a baby.
+ Do you feel like a father figure to the young
players at United?
I do actually. I like helping the young players out.
Sometimes I snap at them, I get frustrated with them
in training, if they are slack, or if they come in late,
[but] I enjoy helping them out.
+ John O’Shea has said, ‘Ryan knows when to
bring people down a peg or two with a quiet word’.
Is that your role?
If I snap at a lad, or have a go at them, they know I’m
doing it to help them, they know it is for the right
reasons, maybe not at the time, but afterwards they will
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know I am trying to help. I lose my temper all the time in
Giggs celebrates winning
the 1998-99 Premier training. It doesn’t last very long, [but] if someone gives
League with Nicky Butt a sloppy pass away, or if they are not concentrating, I
will snap at them. It helps me get the best out of myself.
+ Do the younger players fear you a little bit?
No, the lads don’t fear me, but I think when they come
up from the reserves, they can be surprised, they think
I’m quite placid, so they get a bit of a shock. If I have
a go in training or a game, I will have a laugh and joke
with them afterwards, they might have the hump with
me, but I will just try to have a laugh with them.
+ How has the image of footballers changed over the
20 years you’ve been in the game?
I suppose it could be better, but not a lot has changed,
really, there just seems to be stories sold all the time.
News reporters would leave you alone 20 years
ago. Just look at Wayne [Rooney], he’s got one
photographer assigned to him outside his house every
day, but I never had anything like that.
+ Your friend and old teammate Nicky Butt has said,
‘Had Ryan wanted to project himself, he could have
been the most famous footballer in the world’. Agree?
Giggs
I didn’t make a conscious decision, it was just a
natural thing I followed that felt right to me. You can
do a lot more, get yourself seen, do OK! Magazine,
go to parties, go to film premieres. I went out, enjoyed
myself, but with my mates who I grew up with. I have
never been that sort of character.
+ Has that helped to prolong your career?
Yes, it probably did.
+ Did you ever become a brand?
There was a couple of years, when I was about 20 or
21 and I did a lot of stuff, I went out with [British TV
presenter] Dani Behr, so there were a lot of attention,
but I didn’t enjoy it and pulled back.
+ What did you feel about the saga surrounding
Wayne Rooney’s new contract earlier this season?
I was surprised, just like everyone else, but I didn’t
feel let down by it. It is weird, when you’re at a club
with 20 other players in a dressing room, people
outside of that see it far differently to the players. But
inside a club players are selfish, players are really
selfish. I’m not saying Wayne is selfish, what I mean
is [that week] I was more bothered about getting fit.
I thought, ‘I hope Wayne does get it sorted out, but
if he doesn’t, well . . .’ I’ve seen it all as a player, and
you just concentrate on yourself.
+ How did the United players feel about the statement
Wayne released just before a game?
20 years of highs and lows
+ Best moment?
In 1993 when I was part of the first United side
in 26 years to win the Premier League, and then
winning the Champions League for the first time
in 1999 against Bayern Munich in Barcelona.
+ Worst moment?
Losing to Barcelona in the Champions League
final in 2009 and my very first season when we
narrowly lost the title to Leeds.
+ Best United side?
The 1993-94 team was packed with awesome
players, but the best team has to be the 1999
one because we won the Treble.
+ Best player played with?
Paul Scholes.
+ Best player played against?
Zinedine Zidane.
+ Most unfulfilled talent at Old Trafford?
One of the most talented players I have ever
played with was Juan Sebastián Verón,
but it just didn’t happen for him.
+ The United player who didn’t impress at first,
but came good?
I would say Dwight Yorke really surprised me.
No one could have imagined the impact he
would have.
+ Best goal?
It has to be the winner against Arsenal in that
FA Cup semi-final replay at Villa Park. I just kept
running, and didn’t actually know how many men
I had beaten until I saw it afterwards on TV.
+ Best performance?
Against Porto in the quarter-finals of the
Champions League back in 1997, we won the
first leg at Old Trafford 4-0, and I scored.
+ Biggest regret?
After the career I have had it would be silly to
have any regrets, but it would have been nice to
play in a major tournament with Wales.

“I was surprised, just It was before a Champions League game, so the

timing was stupid, but deep down, I thought he would

like everyone else [with stay and it would be sorted out.

Wayne Rooney], but I + Did you speak to Wayne and give him some advice?
No, I didn’t speak to him. He had more than enough

didn’t feel let down by it. people in the dressing room who are closer to him
talking to him, so I left it. I didn’t really get involved.

Players are selfish and + Can you understand why the United fans felt

I was more bothered

let down and annoyed at him?
Yes, I mean, the fans, and probably me to an extent,
and a lot of the players, what really got our back up

about getting fit” was as soon as Manchester City were mentioned.

For me, as a United fan, as soon as you hear City
being talked about, I thought ‘Well, that can’t happen’.
For me personally, and probably for the fans, they
were already upset, but then City were mentioned,
that’s what got a lot of people’s backs up.

+ How have you seen Sir Alex Ferguson alter his

approach to management over the last 20 years?
I think players are more fragile these days, so the
manager has had to adapt his ways. That is one of
his main strengths – the hairdryer doesn’t come
out so much, he knows when to have a go or when
to look after you. His man management is one of his
strongest points. He knows how to deal with most
situations, he has seen everything.

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Giggs “In the last few
years I have still
seen [Fergie] go
crazy loads of times.
He loses it at me
without hesitation.
You can say he’s
mellowed, but he
can still give it!”
+ So he has mellowed a lot then?
Well, in the last few years I have still seen him go
crazy loads of times. He still loses it with me without
hesitation. The last time was after the Fulham game
because I didn’t take the penalty in the last minute,
Nani did, and missed it, and we ended up drawing. He
was very annoyed at me, he had a word at me. You
can say that he has mellowed, but he can still give it.
+ What is the worst hairdryer treatment
he has given you?
Probably the worst came in the dressing room at
Anfield back in the 1993-94 season. We were 3-0 up,
they came back to 3-3, but I had a chance in the last
minute to win it. I’ve shot from outside the area, even
though Eric [Cantona] was unmarked and I could
have put him in, Grobbelaar has saved it, and so
afterwards the manager is in my face shouting. If you
know you’re in the wrong, you just take it, but if you
think you’re right, you’ll have an argument with him
about it.
+ Ferguson recently said he has started to see a lot
more players crying in the dressing room.
Are you one of them?
20 FOOTBALL+
I have never cried, I never cry, my missus thinks there
is something wrong with me.
+ You have previously said Ferguson now asks you
for advice, so do you ever criticise him or point out
what you would have done differently?
No, never. I don’t say anything. I’m a player, not a
manager. I’m still from the old school. The relationship
has got closer, but there are still clear boundaries.
+ How long can Ferguson go on for?
I don’t see him finishing any time soon, I think he will
go on and on. He could go on for at least another five
years. After a Champions League game we can get
back at 3.30am and then only a few hours later he
will be the first in at the training ground before anyone
else. Earlier in the season we had a virus throughout
the club, he got it himself and was dying in the week,
really sick, but come the day of the game [against
Wolves], he was of course there in the dugout. He just
loves the challenge of managing this club.
+ When he retires is it essential he stays at the club?
I don’t know, but I would imagine it would be a
clean break.
+ You are currently doing your coaching badges, so
what attracts you to being a manager?
If I have a day off I’m bored, and then the weeks
during the summer without football are hard. You
want to get up in the morning and do something I
have done since school, and carry on to be involved
in football.
+ Do you think you would be a good manager?
I don’t know. The life expectancy of a manager is 18
months, so you don’t get long. You have to have so
much go for you – luck, patience, a good chairman.
I believe I can be a good manager, I think I’ll enjoy
it. I like helping players, improving them, and being
around a football club.
+ Do you think your United youth team contemporaries
will also go in to coaching?
I’m not sure Becks [will be a manager], Scholesy will
definitely be involved, probably not as a manager, Phil
[Neville] will definitely [be a manager], not sure about
Gary Neville, he would be a brilliant assistant manager
underneath someone. He could do it, I just think he is
suited to be an assistant because he is so focused and
so organised, he could do the day-to-day coaching.
+ What is the biggest thing you have learned while
getting your coaching badges?
Gary [Neville] was brilliant doing his coaching
badges, he gets his point across really well on the
training pitch. I wouldn’t be great at that, I am
better face-to-face, so would probably be better
at management than coaching.
+ Sir Alex Ferguson has said you will be offered a
coaching role at Old Trafford. Will you take it?
I don’t know, we’ll have to see, I’m undecided at
the moment. I can see the advantage of staying at
Old Trafford, like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did with the
reserves, but then there is an argument that you go out
somewhere else, somewhere new, to learn your trade.
+ How much longer will you play? Could you play until 40?
No, I won’t play until I’m 40. That’s another three
seasons – no way, I really can’t see that happening.
I’ve got this season left, and maybe another one after
that, so possibly two more. But I’m not sure, we’ll
have to see how I feel.
+ So the 2011-12 season could be your last one?
Yes, that could be when I call it a day.
+ When will you know it is time to stop playing?
I will know it is time to stop when I don’t jump out of
bed in the morning and look forward to going in to
training. When the alarm goes off, I can’t be bothered,
or don’t feel excited, that’s the moment, or when it
becomes a chore, I will know.
+ Are you worried about what life will be
like in retirement?
It is a big change, but I am not worried, I am excited
about the new challenges. I am not scared about a life
without playing football. I have been so fortunate, I have
no regrets, I have done so much. I will look forward to
new things in my life, but I will stay in football.
+ There have been reports you could finish your
career in the Middle East?
I’m really not sure, but something like that could
happen. It is more likely than playing for another club
in England. I could never do that.
+ What do you want to achieve before you retire?
I’ve got 11 titles, which is my shirt number, so that’s nice,
but each season I set out to win the title, so if I’m being
greedy two more to get in to the teens would be nice.
+ 21
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