Ryan Giggs From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page semi-protected Ryan Giggs Ryan Giggs vs MLS All Stars 2010.jpg Giggs playing for Manchester United in 2010. Personal information Full name Ryan Joseph Giggs[1] Date of birth 29 November 1973 (age 39) Place of birth Cardiff, Wales Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)[2] Playing position Midfielder Club information Current club Manchester United (Player Coach) Number 11 Youth career 1985–1987 Manchester City 1987–1990 Manchester United Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1990– Manchester United 664 (114) National team‡ 1989 England U16 1 (1) 1989 Wales U18 3 (0) 1991 Wales U21[3] 1 (0) 1991–2007 Wales 64 (12) 2012 Great Britain 4 (1) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:42, 20 October 2013 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20:55, 20 July 2012 (UTC) Ryan Joseph Giggs, OBE[4] (born Ryan Joseph Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh footballer who plays for Manchester United. 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 established himself as a left winger during the 1990s, and continued in this position well into the 2000s, though he has been increasingly used in a deeper playmaking role in his latter years. Giggs is known for his tireless running, ball possession and ability to create goalscoring opportunities for those around him.[5] Giggs is the most decorated player in English football history.[6] He also holds the club record for competitive appearances.[7] During his time at United, he has won 13 Premier League winners medals, four FA Cup winners medals, three League Cup winners medals and two Champions League winners medals. He has two runner-up medals from the Champions League, three FA Cup finals and two League Cup finals, as well as being part of the team five times when it finished second in the Premier 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. Giggs has a number of personal achievements. He was the first player in history to win two consecutive PFA Young Player of the Year awards (1992 and 1993), though he did not win the PFA Player of the Year award until 2009. He is the only player to have played and scored in every season of the Premier League.[8][9] He is the only remaining player in the Premier League who played in the old First Division. He was elected into the PFA Team of the Century in 2007,[10] the Premier League Team of the Decade in 2003, as well as the FA Cup Team of the Century. Giggs holds the record for the most assists in Premier League history, with 271.[11] 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. Giggs was named one of the three overaged players for the Great Britain team to compete at 2012 Summer Olympics, and was subsequently named as the teams captain.[12] 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 Queens 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.[13] On 31 January 2011, Giggs was named Manchester Uniteds greatest ever player by a worldwide poll conducted by Uniteds official magazine and website. On 10 October 2011, Giggs was honoured with the 2011 Golden Foot Award. Contents [hide] 1 Early years 2 Manchester United first team 2.1 1990–1995: Debut and early career 2.2 1995–2000 2.3 2000–2005 2.4 2005–2010 2.5 2010–present 3 International career 3.1 International goals 3.1.1 Wales 3.1.2 Great Britain 4 Discipline 5 Career statistics 5.1 Club 5.2 International 6 Honours 6.1 Club 6.2 Individual 6.3 Orders and special awards 7 Records 8 Endorsements and public image 9 Personal life 9.1 Family 9.2 Activism 9.3 Post-playing career 9.4 Gagging order 10 Notes 11 References 12 External links Early years This section of a biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2011) Born as Ryan Joseph Wilson[14] (he later adopted his mothers maiden name as his professional surname) at St Davids Hospital in Canton, Cardiff, to Danny Wilson, at the time a rugby union player for Cardiff RFC who would go on to become a Wales international representative in rugby league, and Lynne Giggs (now Lynne Johnson). As a child Giggs grew up in Ely, a suburb of western Cardiff. His younger brother, Rhodri, is a former manager of non-league Salford City. He spent much time with his mothers 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.[15] After moving to Salford, Giggs appeared for the local team, Deans FC, who were coached by Manchester City scout Dennis Schofield. 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, was man of the match, and the trophy was presented to him by Liverpool chief scout Ron Yeats.[16] Giggs also played rugby league at schoolboy level.[17] While playing for Deans, Giggs was observed regularly by local newsagent and Old Trafford steward Harold Wood. Wood spoke personally to Alex Ferguson who sent a scout, and Giggs was eventually offered 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 Giggss 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.[18] He changed his surname at the age of 16, when his mother remarried. His parents had separated two years earlier.[19] Manchester United first team 1990–1995: Debut and early career Giggs was offered his first professional contract on 29 November 1990 (his 17th birthday). He accepted the contract and became a professional two days later (1 December 1990). 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 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. Fergusons quest for a successful left winger had not been an easy one since the departure of Jesper Olsen two years earlier; he had initially 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 shine at Old Trafford, and by the time Giggs turned professional Wallace was contending 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 won the race to displace Danny Wallace, took to the field as Uniteds left winger, while Wallace was selected as a substitute. Giggs 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 Fergies 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, 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.[20] That season, Giggs played in the team that finished as runners-up to Leeds United in the final year of the old First Division before the advent of the Premier League. United had led the table for much of the season before a run of dismal results in April saw them overtaken by the West Yorkshire side. Giggs collected his first piece of silverware on 12 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. At the end of the season, he was voted PFA Young Player of the Year – the award which had been credited to his colleague Lee Sharpe a year earlier.[citation needed] By the start of the 1992–93 season, the first season of the newly formed Premier League, Giggs had ousted Sharpe to become Uniteds first-choice left winger. He was recognised as one of English footballs two best emerging young wingers, alongside Steve McManaman,[21] who were notable for being a throwback to the Stanley Matthews era of the 1950s wingers.[22] Giggs helped United to their first top division title win for 26 years. Giggs playing for United in 2009 His emergence and the arrival of Eric Cantona heralded the dominance of United in the Premier League. Ferguson was protective of him, refusing to allow Giggs to be interviewed until he turned 20, eventually granting the first interview to the BBCs Des Lynam for Match of the Day in the 1993–94 season. United won the double that season, and Giggs was one of their key players alongside the likes of Eric Cantona, Paul Ince and Mark Hughes. Giggs also played for United in the Football League Cup final, where they lost 3–1 to Aston Villa. Off the pitch, newspapers claimed Giggs had single-handedly revolutionised footballs 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.[23] 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 Leagues attempt to market itself globally, 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,[24] 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 Premierships First Poster Boy,[25] and the boy wonder,.[26] He was hailed as the first football star to capture the public imagination in a way unseen since the days of George Best;[27] 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. Best once quipped, One day they might even say that I was another Ryan Giggs.[27] 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 equalled by Robbie Fowler and Wayne Rooney.[28] Giggs proved to be a scorer of great goals, with many of them 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 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 Seamans 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] 1995–2000 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 goals in all competitions that season. In 1995–96 Giggs returned to full form and played a vital part in Uniteds unique second double, with 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 Citys Georgi Kinkladze. In November that season, Giggs scored two goals in a Premier League match against Southampton, 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 Uniteds FA Cup final win over Liverpool on 11 May 1996, though Eric Cantona scored the only goal of the game. By now, Giggs had several new key colleagues in 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.[29] 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 excellent and he played in both of Uniteds cup finals that season. Memorable moments were his extra-time goal in the FA Cup semi-final against arch-rivals Arsenal giving United a 2–1 win, and his 90th minute equaliser in the home leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final against Juventus. The highpoint in the 1998–99 season was when Giggs set up the equalising goal scored by Teddy Sheringham in the 1999 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 1–0 to claim the Intercontinental Cup later that year.[30] 2000–2005
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 17:06:58 +0000
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