My boy! There is only one Ryan Giggs!
Why Ryan Giggs feels this season is the best yet
Socks rolled down, shin-pads out, Ryan Giggs's legs reveal the cost of glory. His right shin is a shredded-to-ribbons mess, scarred with cuts and bruises sustained guiding the ball through hostile territory. Manchester United suffer for their beautiful art.
By Henry Winter, Football Correspondent
Last Updated: 10:01PM BST 15 May 2009
Just champion: Ryan Giggs, who can win his 11th league winners' medal against Arsenal today, says he is delighted to have been voted PFA Player of the Year Photo: PA
As United search for the point against Arsenal today that brings an 18th title, and an 11th for Giggs, the really scary part for their rivals is their enduring toughness as well as their talent, their willingness to absorb the impact of an opponent's fury en route to goal. Sir Alex Ferguson and his players crave more: more challenges, more trophies.
Long acquaintance with victory podiums has simply deepened the hunger of competitors like Giggs. His story is United's story, an insight into the psyche of champions. "The first time I won the league [in 1993], I celebrated for a week,'' recalls Giggs, a sinewy 35-year-old sitting at Carrington, awaiting the cherished call for training.
Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United are made of right stuff"With the way it ended in Barcelona [snatching the Champions League in 1999], the buzz lasted ages. It was just a dream that we had been trying to do since we won the league. In Moscow last year, I had a few beers and was one of the first up to bed. I was thinking about next year, got to do back-to-back Champions Leagues, that's the challenge, no one has ever done it.''
Giggs believes United can dominate this era as Real Madrid, Ajax, Liverpool and AC Milan owned past decades. "We are definitely capable of that because of the [relatively young] age of the team. If we win it in Rome [against Barcelona] it will give us unbelievable confidence to do it again next season.''
Three in a row?! "I look for challenges – that's what drives me on. When we lose, it is a little easier to take because I come home, my daughter says something funny, and that's it, I just relax. But I am moody. I go through what I could have done better. I can't wait for the next game to put it right.
"A lot of people said I couldn't top last season, breaking the appearance record of Sir Bobby Charlton, scoring against Wigan [to win title] and the Champions League final, but it's been better this season. I have enjoyed this season more than any other.''
His peers voted him Player of the Year and he finished runners-up to Steven Gerrard in the writers' poll. "Personal awards come second to winning leagues but I was really pleased to get that PFA award – at 35. Over the last couple of weeks, I've got 'How have you won the PFA Player of the Year?' I got it at Middlesbrough. Just as I was taking a corner, the whole stand sang: 'Player of the year? You're having a laugh!' Brilliant! I scored straight after so I gave them a wave!
"I get opposing fans saying they respect me, which is great to hear. I was at Chester Races the other week, and a couple of people came up and said: 'We're Scousers, we're Liverpool fans but we respect you and the way you play'.''
United themselves generate more respect because of the intoxicating nature of their football, for their resilience and also because they are less confrontational than before. "The characters have definitely changed from the players in the past like Roy [Keane], Sparky [Mark Hughes], Peter Schmeichel, [Eric] Cantona,'' agrees Giggs.
"Wayne [Rooney] is a bit like that with his fiery attitude but it's a different sort of steely attitude we have got. Those players were all great footballers but when it went wrong, they could stick the foot in as well. We are more dependent on our footballing ability. But we are not a soft touch. We have tough players right through the spine of the team – Rooney, Scholesy, Vidic. There's a good team spirit, It's not a quiet team. No! Not with Gary [Neville] about!''
Thinking of Neville and Rio Ferdinand, Giggs argues that the dressing-room teems with captaincy-types. "There are a lot of natural leaders – and leaders among the young players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Rooney. Anderson could be. Because of his nature, his enthusiasm, everybody loves him.
"Ronaldo is a leader because of the way he plays. He gets respect because of what he has achieved in such a short space of time. He has every attribute to be the best player in the world. Ronaldo is a strong character which he needs with what he's gone through.
"Physically, he's unbelievable, strong, tough. I have seen the cynical tackles made on Ronaldo – worse than the tackles made 15 years ago. Cristiano takes more tackles than anyone else. His ankles are [battered]. He has also had a good apprenticeship. The first couple of years were quiet for him, and people were 'umming' and 'arring' [about whether he'd make it]. He worked hard on his game.''
Everyone at United works hard: the legacy of Cantona. "Eric would always stay out, practising shooting and we'd stay out with him. It's almost become second nature. The manager was always calling us in! He was worried we'd get injured booting too many balls, tiring ourselves out.''
The manager. Ferguson's astonishing hunger "filters down to the staff and the players'', Giggs observes. "He has so many qualities. His man-management is very, very good. Because he has that instant respect, when he says 'I'm not playing you this week, I'm saving you for another week' I trust him.''
Has Ferguson changed? "He doesn't go off his head as much as he used to! That's maturing. He's also happy with the players he has got over the last four or five years and the football we've been playing. Even when Chelsea won the league a couple of times [2005 and 2006], he had the patience to know this team will be good in a couple of years.''
Ferguson has also developed the team from the 4-4-2 to the more fluid 4-3-3. "The manager wanted to change it after the European Cup [of 99] and not to become too predictable. Back then, we were so used to playing 4-4-2. Now it [4-3-3] is second nature. Wayne can play upfront on his own, on the left. Cristiano can play anywhere. He's got the ability to play through the middle – he scores important goals. Where do you have your goalscorer?! Upfront! Maybe if he plays on the wing, people can pick him up more.
"It's a lot more flexible. Carrick, Fletch, Scholes, myself – we have so many personnel to do it. I think to myself: 'Have I always been a central midfielder?!' When I was quicker, I played just off the front a lot of times, off Ruud [van Nistelrooy] and Andy Cole, so playing more central is not strange to me.''
Giggs began as a flying winger, leaving right-backs with "twisted blood'' in Ferguson's great phrase. Not all. "Inter's Javier Zanetti was difficult to play against – tough, quick, strong, runs forward. So was Cafu, another nightmare. I was running back all the time. With 4-4-2 my job was to look after the right-back. If he got a cross in, it was my fault.
"I always found it hard against Lee Dixon. Experienced players always know when to close you down, when to let have you the ball. The first few minutes Dixon would let me know he was about, put his foot in, and get away with it! The next time I'd get the ball, I'd think: 'Is he going to do it again'?''
Giggs laments the passing of famous old arenas like Dixon's old Arsenal stamping ground. "The Emirates is nothing like Highbury. I like the old grounds, places where they test you. We never used to do well down at The Dell. I like atmospheres like Anfield and Elland Road, experiencing the ferocity of the fans towards you, the intense rivalry. We knew we had to perform. When I was younger, I used to get abuse off the Leeds fans, who sang things like 'There's only one spotty virgin'.
"I like the intense atmosphere where we are not just playing the team, we are playing their fans as well. I've never experienced anything like Galatasaray. Two hours before kick-off, we went out to have a look at the pitch and the stadium was packed! The chanting was brilliant: one side starts, then the other, then quiet, then all of them chanting! The players really enjoyed it. Before it was good, after it wasn't!'' (United's players ran the gauntlet of riot police and fans, who bricked their coach.)
Giggs will miss all this, the camaraderie, the pursuit of trophies. Yet he shows no sign of losing his edge, physically or mentally. "I am heavier, not as quick, but my body is more flexible through doing yoga. Rest is really, really important. After a game, I'm knackered. I go home and get into bed at 7pm, watch TV and have an early night.''
And the future? Management? Giggs pauses. He has begun acquiring his coaching badges. "When I did the course at Lilleshall last year, I was nervous. I was crap at the beginning but the more I did, the more I enjoyed it. People fall into management. You see Alan Shearer now – he will probably be there [at Newcastle United] for 10 years. Sparky fell into the Welsh job. I hear you get the bug. After playing, what do you do? You look for another challenge. Football's my life.''
